


The Angel's Return

by modonn



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2018-09-27 05:31:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9976784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/modonn/pseuds/modonn
Summary: A Guardian searches for answers from her past and learns that they may decide the future.





	1. Chapter 1

She tried to steel herself against the pain searing from the base of her skull to her temples to no avail, then suddenly it was gone.

"Okaeri." The voice had a strange lilt. Her eyelids felt heavy as she forced them open and then had to squint into the light.

"What?" Her vision was starting to clear, but it was still hard to focus. Her first question was already leading to so many more, not least of which was why her own voice sounded unfamiliar.

"I'm sorry, I'm not actually sure what it means, I pulled it from our neural link, it's pre-golden age I think, it felt appropriate."

"Will you please get that damn light out of my eyes," she said raising her hand to shield her face.

"Oh, sorry," the voice withdrew and the light dimmed somewhat, "I got a little excited, today is a big day for me." She lowered her hand and tried to focus. A small star-shaped machine hovered in front of her. It's light moved and blinked like an eye, it seemed to be watching her.

"What the.."

"Probably not what you were expecting I suppose, but I'll try not to take it personally." The machine pulsed, almost organically, as it spoke. "I'm sure you have so many questions to ask and I'll do my best to answer them all, but right now this place isn't safe, we need to move."

For the first time she pulled her gaze from the machine and was startled by the huge wall of wreckage towering over her. She lay in a crater, presumably formed by the wreck. The whole scene took place in a courtyard of sorts, with buildings on all sides. Instinctively she withdrew from the wreck, as if it might fall on her, but it was covered in grass and moss, as if it had stood for centuries.

Once out of the crater she rolled to her knees and began to stand for the first time. Her legs and arms felt weak and a little shaky, but even so, she felt more in control once on her feet.

"Where the hell am I?"

"Please!" the machine interrupted. "We really have to go, I'm detecting movement to the west we have about a minute before we're discovered." Her hand reached unconsciously behind her back for something that wasn't there, she froze for a moment and her eyes glazed, as if trying to connect with a memory just outside her reach.

"Guardian!" His voice snapped her back to the present and a surge of adrenaline pressed her into action. She ran across the clearing, weaving between fragments of the wrecked ship toward a entrance in the building to the north.

She took the steps three at a time and entered what appeared to be a lobby. Stairs curved up on either side of her and a large sliding metal door lay directly ahead. It was fractionally open, maybe just enough for her to squeeze through. She looked behind her, the machine was nowhere to be seen.

"Don't worry, I'm still here." His voice rang clear as if inside her helmet. "I'm not sure there's an obvious way out of here, maybe we should.." She broke into a run again and headed straight for the door.  
"OK then, you lead, good idea."

She peered inside, it was a lit corridor, but she couldn't see where it led. Turning sideways, she expelled the air from her lungs. Her body would fit, but her helmet would not. She unclipped it quickly, let it fall to the floor and squeezed through. A skeleton sat propped against the wall opposite, beneath some indistinct writing. She wiped away the dust.

Archives

IWA-6

"You might be right about that 'no way out' thing," she said.  
The corridor went left and turned right. She followed it to a larger corridor, with steps leading down.  
"Do you think we can break one of those windows?" she asked.

"Not without some serious firepower and a whole lot of noise," he replied.  
Another doorway at the end took them right and eventually the hiss of falling rain drew them to an open doorway to the outside.

"See," he said "I knew it was this way." She slowed to a stealthy walk and stepped into the shadows on her right as they neared the doorway. She hugged the wall and slipped forward slowly until she had a view of the area ahead.

"I'm not detecting any lifeforms ahead, but there does appear to be some kind of power source, it maybe a way out, but we don't have too long, the Fallen won't be far behind."

"The Fallen?" she asked, without breaking her focus.

"Let's just say, they're the bad guys."

"Then we're the good guys?"

"Of course, what did you think?" he chastised her for the implication.

She moved forward to cover behind a stout pillar and then another. The area was much the same as what they'd left behind, a sign ahead said "Information Services: MAIN PLAZA" She walked out into the rain and stopped.

"Where are you?"

"Oops, sorry." He materialized in front of her. "There, thats better."

"Are we safe here?"

He paused "Safe..r"

"Start talking," she demanded.

"Well, it's a bit complicated, but basically you umm, have been asleep for a very, very long time and I just woke you up."

"Asleep?"

"Mostly." His anxiety was palpable.

"For how long?"

"I'm not going to lie," he paused again "it's been a while."

"And you are..?"

"I'm Ghost"

This time she paused "And who am I?"

"You're my Guardian."

Her voice grew softer, but strained "Who am I, actually?"

"Well, I don't really know," he admitted. Her head rolled back and she let out a frustrated growl.

"I don't remember anything," she pleaded. "I don't remember my name, I don't remember this place or what I was doing here."

"I'm sorry," he said "but we know you came here, probably for a good reason. There must be some clue back at the crash, but for now we have to leave, because.." An explosive crash from the corridor blew past them in a rush of air and dust. Ghost dematerialized without another word.

She pressed herself against the pillar, opposite from the corridor and tried to keep her breathing under control. The sound of footsteps approaching echoed all around her, some small, at least one large. She should have run for cover, but it was too late now, she would have to fight somehow.

A screeching creature approached on her left, it passed her and stopped a few paces away. Another just like it, ran past and stopped a few paces ahead of the first. They were scanning the area ahead and muttering in a guttural tongue. She was holding her breath, unconsciously pressing her back harder into the cold, wet tile of the pillar.

A barked command came from the mouth of the entrance. As the two creatures turned to face their superior, they spotted her, but she was already moving.

She sprang forward and threw her left arm around the nearest creature's throat, spinning its body to face the corridor. She grabbed it's right hand and forced its finger onto the trigger of its pistol. A flurry of strange energy burst from the muzzle and streamed toward the furthest creature.

The rounds moved so slowly that even at this range, the creature was able to dodge most of them, but it was injured and dropped to its knees. She felt a forceful impact as other rounds tore into the flesh of her shield, its body went limp and became heavy.

She released her choke hold and let it fall, wrestling the pistol from its grasp. She fired a salvo toward the entrance on her way to the opposite pillar and dived for cover. As she landed she finished off the kneeling creature with a second, painfully slow burst.

As she tried to catch her breath another somewhat larger creature rounded the pillar and startled her with a screech. She froze for a moment at the sight of it. It had four arms and fierce horns jutting forward from either side of its head. She had no time to stand. She shoved the pistol into its gut and pulled the trigger. The creature screamed and doubled over, dropping its rifle just beyond her reach. She quickly sprang to her haunches and reached for the weapon.

"Look out!" Ghost called as a spray of heavy buckshot flew past.

An incoherent curse bellowed from the corridor as the creature taunted her. She looked down at the pistol in her hand

"Piece of crap." She shook her head, her black ponytail dancing across her shoulders. Tossing the pistol around the pillar, she lunged left and scooped up the rifle. Two quick steps later, she vaulted off a large metal crate. As she flew, she turned to face the creature, aimed the rifle and squeezed the trigger.

Instead of shooting the rifle began to charge, she winced inwardly, but held her aim. As she fell, the creature's shot hit her in the chest, knocking the air from her lungs, then her rifle fired. As the bolt loosed, it disappeared over the crate and her back hit the floor.

With no breath left to lose, she was utterly winded and reeled, dropping the rifle and gasping for air. The creature was howling in pain, but somehow still had the strength to shove the huge crate aside and staggered toward her.

"The Captain!" Ghost screamed. She pitched forward to brace herself and as she did, a sip of air slipped into her chest. The respite gave her presence enough to ball her fist and she leapt at the captain with all of her might. As her fist flew past her cheek, she felt it glowing fiery hot and as it landed it exploded.

For a moment the searing pain was back, then it ended as suddenly as it came.

"You did it!" exclaimed Ghost. "I knew I made a good choice."

"What happened?" She checked herself for signs of injury, but she was as good as new.

"You slept again," he said quickly. "Not to worry, let's get out of here before more Fallen arrive."

"Wait, what about my clues, what about this place?" she said.

"Another time, we'll come back, I promise."

"Ghost, I'm not leaving with nothing." He didn't respond. "Where's the power source?"

"At the end, by the big white door." She walked over to the door.

"Ishtar Collective? What's that?"

"Golden age archivists. They built the greatest archive of knowledge from the finest minds..wait, we need to tell the Vanguard about this. That power source might mean the archive is here, the Cryptarchs could have access to so much we don't understand today."

"But how do we get in," she mused.

"Wait, let's do this right," he said. "Hold out your left hand. Now visualize me floating just above your palm." She stared fiercely at her upturned hand. "Go ahead," Ghost said.

"I'm trying."

"Just relax."

"Will you shut up," she retorted, just then Ghost appeared.

"I knew you could do it," he said floating over to a computer panel to their right. He sent a beam of light to the panel and seemed to be interacting with it. The door began to open with a hiss.

"Level 2 security clearance my transponder, child's play. Might as well have left it open" She walked across the threshold into the chamber. A second more substantial door lay inside and an access panel with a palm print reader to its right.

"Ah, now that's more like it, looks like a real challenge this time." As he spoke she walked over to the reader, the sensor glass was badly cracked, but she placed her hand on it nonetheless. It activated.

…..Welco.e Li...enant T...n...

Open va... .oor

Y/..

"Ghost, it knows me," she said. "Can you read that? I can't make it out"

A huge boom from above broke the moment, as a ship flew in.

"A Fallen ketch." Said Ghost. "Guardian, we can't let them gain access to the Archive. Sign out, quickly." Her hand moved to the reset button, but hesitated.

"Guardian, we'll come back, I promise, but this is bigger than us. If the Fallen get in here, it could be then end of us all."

Her finger hovered a moment longer, then pushed reset and the sensor went dark. She wiped the glass clean with her sleeve.

"OK Ghost, lets get the hell out of here."


	2. Chapter 2

"I've got something!" Ghost said. The Guardian leaped to her feet and waited for the news. "They're coming at first light," he continued "something about the Venusian sunrise interfering with signal tracking."

"If this rain keeps up we won't hear the Fallen coming, but it might help mask the noise of the ship," she added. First light was not more than an hour away, she retreated back under the overhang, hugged her knees to her chest and waited.

When it came, the sunrise was a subtle change as the dark shifted to gloom. The thick clouds resisted any attempt by the sun to break through and the rain continued to pour.

"Here we go!" said Ghost after what felt like an age. This time the Guardian stayed sheltered, but she was ready. In a few moments, a ship burst into view a short distance away and immediately after a soldier materialised beneath it. The soldier was heavily armoured and carrying a huge machine gun, he waved at her to join him. "Let's go." Said Ghost. She didn't hesitate and sprinted across the open ground to meet him.

"Thank you," she said to the soldier. He reached into a tube in his leg armour and pulled out an elaborate metal stake.

"Here," he said "the honour should be yours." She took it from him, but was clearly nonplussed. "It's a beacon," he said "For other Guardians." The rain bounced of his helmet and huge shoulders. "The first on Venus, plant it in the ground, over there." She dashed to the spot he indicated a few feet away and jammed the beacon into the ground. By the time she had returned to him the beacon had activated. "There, it's official," he said. "Take out your Ghost." She raised her hand and this time Ghost immediately appeared.

"It's going to be a bit tight in there," he said. The Guardian felt butterflies in her stomach and as the sensation grew stronger it spread throughout her body.  
She found herself in the cockpit of a ship directly behind the pilot's seat.

"Hold on," said the soldier, although there wasn't really anything to hold on to. She grabbed the sides of his backrest and braced herself. The ship eased forward and then quickly picked up speed, finally lurching into FTL and stable flight. He turned his chair to face her, his helmet was gone, but his appearance was more striking without it. His skin was a pale blue and his eyes had an iridescent quality which made it difficult to look away. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"I'm fine." She found it difficult to not stare.

"I was able to transmat you and your armour, while leaving all the water behind," said Ghost.

"Are you a Guardian?" she asked.

"Yes," he said "My name is Andav. I haven't heard of a new Guardian on Venus before, I don't think anyone has."

"You're welcome," said Ghost. The soldier's Ghost drifted into view from behind him.

"It appears you have neglected to provide your Guardian a helmet as part of her basic equipment loadout," she said. Ghost visibly bristled at the accusation, but his Guardian interjected.

"I had one, but I had to leave it behind," she said.

"Approaching Earth." The female Ghost announced. Smiling the soldier turned back to his console and entered several commands.

"Decelerating in 3,2,1." As he counted down she braced herself again. The ship left FTL and the panorama of Earth immediately filled the cockpit windows. She took a moment to absorb it.

"I know it's Earth," she said softly "but I don't remember it". As they rounded orbit a huge object loomed into view. "What the hell?"

"That is the Traveller," he said "our saviour and protector." The Traveller appeared to be a small planet, suspended, motionless, just above Earth's surface.

"It seems so, unnatural," she said. The soldier pitched his ship forward and quickly descended the atmosphere to the Tower. As they neared the structure he turned back to face her again. "This is our home," he said "you'll be safe here." His Ghost negotiated their ship's approach and after a brief delay they transmatted to the Tower.

The Guardian found herself at the base of the steps to a busy concourse filled with Guardians and Ghosts. The structure had a regal feel, accentuated by prominent heraldry and banners. Guardians walked or even ran between stalls and booths scattered around the concourse. A gold inscription in the cement a few paces away from where they stood carried the words 'ATRIVM PROPVGNATORVM'.

"The Cryptarch told me it means 'Hall of Champions' in an ancient Earth language," Andav said. "But don't be too impressed with this place, it's down there that really matters." He pointed directly behind them over a railing to the land below.

She walked to the railing to take in the sight. A huge, seemingly makeshift city surrounded the Tower, it was difficult for her to estimate the size, it sprawled as far as she could see in all directions, but the view was dominated by the Traveller, which hovered directly above the centre of the city. "The Last City," Andav said. "The final refuge of mankind."

"Refuge from what?" She said

"From the Darkness." he said. "The Fallen you've met, other things you'll meet soon enough, but it's not really my place to tell you such things. Come with me." She took one last look at the scene below and followed Andav into the Tower.

He took her to the north end of the Tower, to what looked like an observatory of a considerable size. The roof and far side of the structure were mainly glass and it housed a huge, presumably astronomical apparatus, which appeared to be analysing or monitoring the Traveller in some way.

"Fascinating isn't it?" The voice came from a mezzanine, which she hadn't noticed when she entered. "I've been studying the Traveller for as long as I can remember, but even I know so little about it." A masked man, in scholar's robes, descended the staircase as he spoke. "Welcome Guardian, I've been very much looking forward to meeting you." The man dismissed Andav with a nod and continued. "A remarkable victory so soon after your awakening, you've already shown great promise for our cause."

"Thank you," she said.

"I'm sorry, you must have so many questions, but despite this I want to assure you that it is what lies ahead of you that matters now. What you do today and the next day and the next, that is what you must focus on if we are all to survive against the Darkness." He reached the spot where she stood and stopped.

"The Traveller came to us at the time of our greatest need, it brought us from the edge of ruin to the golden age of our civilisation." He paused and looked out of the window toward the Traveller. "But then the Darkness came, it saw the Traveller as a threat and railed against it and in it's throes the Traveller created the Guardians, to fight back the Darkness, to save us all." He faced her again and despite his faceless mask she felt a great intensity from him. "You have been given a second chance Guardian." He said. "Whatever you were is gone. What you are now is a chosen champion of the Traveller and of all mankind. You must accept this gift and honour it."

She wanted to say 'but the archive, it knows who I am..who I was..if I could just...', but the words died in her throat. "Rest for a while Guardian, then retool and ready yourself. The Vanguard will need every mote of your light if we are to win this war." He said before turning and climbing the stairs to return to his study. Feeling that she too had been dismissed she offered a slight, awkward bow to the man's back and withdrew.

As she walked toward the concourse, she took a series of deep breaths to calm the anxiety she felt tightening her chest. Andav was waiting for her up ahead.

"Who _ **is** _ he?" she asked.

"He is the Speaker," he said. "He speaks for the Traveller."

"He told me to retool and fight," she said. "Sounds like exactly what I need right now."

"I'll take you to the Vanguard." he said. They walked back into the concourse and down the central stairway to a hallway containing what looked like a military base of operations. At the end of the hallway lay a long table around which three distinctly different Guardians were debating.

"I'm just saying, rushing in with all guns blazing is not the only solution we have at our disposal," said the closest of the three. It appeared that her companions were about to retaliate, but she swiftly turned her attention to the Guardian approaching.

"Welcome Guardian." Her smile was gentle and warm, but there was an unmistakable fire in her eyes. "We are the Vanguard," she said "We are tasked with defending the Last City and all who refuge here. I am Ikora Rey," she motion to her companions "this is Cayde-6 and our Commander Zavala." The Guardian acknowledge each of them in turn with a nod. "We've already heard much about you," Ikora said.

"Your find on Venus was impressive," said Zavala. "The archives have great strategic importance, their recovery may be vital to the outcome of this war." Zavala bore more than a passing resemblance to Andav.

"But don't let your head get too big already Guardian," said Cayde "We've got lots of lousy jobs for you to do first." Cayde on the other hand was quite different from anyone else she had seen in the Tower. He appeared to be a machine, a robot, but his demeanour seemed so human, almost more human than the other two.

"About the archive," the Guardian said.

"We have one of our finest taking care of it as we speak." Said Cayde "It's in good hands, don't worry."

"I'm not worried," she said "I need some information." Cayde was somewhat surprise by her request, after a momentary glance at his Vanguard peers, he put his arm around the Guardian's shoulders an ushered her away from the table.

"Guardian, let me introduce you to my friend Banshee, he'll make sure.." As soon as they were out of earshot his tone changed. "Ok, use your inside voice and tell me all about it."

"Before the Fallen came," she began. "I tried to get access to the archive vault with my palm print."

"M-hmm" He seemed preoccupied with looking around them.

"The system recognised me," she said "it knew my name, but the display was cracked and I couldn't read it."

"And now you want to go back and find out who you used to be," he said.

"Exactly," she said.

"Well," he said "you can do that, but what do you have to gain?" She waited for him to make eye contact with her before continuing.

"Myself," she said. "My sanity."

"Maybe." He stopped walking and faced her. "Or maybe you'll drive yourself crazy trying to find out who you used to be. Trust me, I know a thing or two about this stuff, remembering who you were is, complicated."

"Most Guardians probably never have the chance, I do, shouldn't I take it?" she said. "Or should I just spend eternity regretting it?" He turned and ushered her toward the stairs.

"Ah, you heard that whole Guardian's live forever thing huh?" he said. "Well my advice would be 'Don't believe everything you hear', because sometimes," he held up his index finger belay his point "it just isn't true." He stopped at the foot of the stairs. "OK, here's what we're gonna do. Go up here, take a left." He gestured "See the big ugly Exo and get a weapon. When you're done, go see Amanda Holiday in the hangar, she has a ship you can use."

"Ugly guy, Holiday, got it," she repeated, but Cayde held up his hand to hold her there for one last thing.

"Here's the deal," he said in a more serious tone "you visit the archive in a couple of days, when I've had word that it's all cleaned up and Fallen free. In the meantime you run a couple of quick missions for the Vanguard and see how this whole Guardian thing works." This time the pang in her chest came from impatience rather than anxiety. She took one deep breath and let it go.

"Deal," she said.

"OK,I'll send the details to your ghost" she had already begun to climb the stairs "Tell Banshee I sent you," he called after her "he might give you a discount."

 

* * *

 

"My sensors indicate a lower than average air temperature for this time of year." Ghost said.

"Thanks for the heads up," whispered the Guardian.

"Had I known that our strategy would entail camping on a rooftop, at night, in the Russian winter, I would have made warm clothing a higher priority." She slowly shifted her trigger hand from the rifle to pull the tarp closer to her sides.

"I just hope this scope works as well as Banshee said it would or I'm going to freeze to death for nothing." She wiped the condensation from the eyepiece and returned her fingers to the trigger guard.

"He also said it was a prototype 'with a few bugs to work out' so.."

"Still nothing?" she interjected. His response came after a short delay.

"Nope," he said. "No thermal or movement readings across the plateau, except for those Hive still milling around the breach." She slowly pivoted the rifle to scan the area.

"Based on all the historical mission logs I have access to," Ghost continued "that in itself is very unusual, this is normally a busy place."

"What exactly did Cayde's instructions say?" She whispered into her sleeve to minimise her breath.

"Priority: 4. Location: Earth, Cosmodrome, Skywatch. Brief: Fallen snipers laying ambush at patrol beacons. Objective: Secure area."

"What's priority 4?" she asked.

"I believe priority 4 is the lowest available," his reply drew a curse from her. "I have no record of the Vanguard previously issuing a priority 4 mission directly."

"Great," she said. "This has all the hallmarks of a wild goose.."

"Wait." his tone was heightened. "Multiple inbound ships detected." She cocked her head and strained to listen, but the cascade of loud booms was unmissable.

"Who and how many?" she yelled over the din.

"Fallen Skiffs, 4 of them, from the northeast." She shifted slightly to face them head on. "Also, I've lost contact with the Tower, it could be some kind of jamming."

She corrected her forehand grip and rested her finger against the cold trigger. "These are not common tactics for the Fallen." He said. Half a dozen red profiles dropped into view of her scope. She recognised the outlines from her encounters with the dregs on Venus. As soon as they landed they started to run in her direction. She scanned the view on either side, more dregs, also running directly toward her.

"Did they spot us already?" she whispered.

"The Skiffs may have made you on a thermal scan, but Guardians in the Skywatch is normal," Ghost said. "Another wave just landed," She would have to make a decision soon. "that's 36 dregs, so far." She scanned again, they knew where she was, for sure.

"Enough." She spoke out loud for the first time in hours, then eased a little air from her lungs and squeezed the trigger. The closest dreg's head exploded in a shower of bright sparks, then the next and the next. She made almost imperceptible changes in the alignment of the rifle until the magazine was empty. Without a moment's delay, she swapped the mag with one in her thigh pocket. She set her grip again and resumed fire.

Every shot felled a dreg, every shot was straight to the head. The second mag depleted and she swapped it while doing the math. She had three left, if she didn't miss, they would be enough. One, two, the third dreg stumbled, but she held the trigger just in time for him to recover, three. Her timing was off now, four, five. Her ears were starting to ring, she let out another half breath, six.

"The second wave has split," said Ghost "flanking left and right." To the right was low ground, they would be fish in a barrel, but they would have to climb to her and would arrive last. She turned left.

"How far?" She could barely hear her own voice.

"270" She dropped the barrel slightly and the dregs came into view of her scope. Two groups had come left, lucky. She worked through the first group, but they got close.

She jumped to her feet and swapped the mag, the next one would be the last. The weak lights on the outside of the building would help. She spotted the first dreg and put a bullet in it's chest. A second was directly behind it, but it dived for cover before she could shoot.

"They're in cover," Ghost said.

"They're waiting for backup." She used the scope to scan under the Skiffs, but nothing showed up. "Ghost?"

"No thermal or movement, but there is an energy pattern,"

"Ghost?" Her voice carried urgency for the first time.

"It could be cloaking," he said.

"Damn," she said, recovering her calm. "Let's go." She turned, picked her way among the pipework on the roof and headed for a large hole in the centre. She gripped the rifle tightly and dropped onto the exposed ducting below. She ran along the duct and up the shelving brace she had angled there a few hours before, when she had hoped that whatever happened, she wouldn't need it.

From the top of the brace she dropped into an elevated storage area and slid behind a stack of metal crates. She had 11 rounds left for the rifle, she should have taken the handgun Banshee had recommended too. Maybe next time.

"Good news." Said Ghost. "The Hive took an interest in the righties, it looks like two of them are down so far."

"What about the cloakers?" she asked.

"It's hard to say," he said, "three, maybe four of them, whatever they are, they're almost outside." She took a knee and rested the rifle on the lid of a crate, facing the doorway.

"Looks like the Hive got another one," Ghost said.

"Go Hive," she said under her breath. "Are we able to transmat?"

"Nope, all comms and scanning beyond the Skiffs is failing," he said. "they're jamming us all right." She sank back as far as she could into the corner, still training the rifle on the doorway. There were no lights in the ceiling above the storage area, but the main area below was well lit. She started whispering again.

"It's their move, we're not going anywhere soon." she tried to listen for clues outside, but the ringing in her ears was still too strong. Is this what Cayde had meant by 'lousy jobs'? He'd implied that she should wait until the archives were safe before she visited, but then dropped her into this shit storm.

"They're heading up to the roof," Ghost said. "two cloakers I think." She didn't change her position, instead she reaffirmed her fore grip and slowly blew a gently half breath. The dregs burst through the doorway, her scope was useless at this range, she eyeballed it and fired into the centre of the crowd. Somehow she missed, but the dregs hadn't quite figured out where she was yet.

A heavy thud came from her left as something landed onto the ducting, she glanced that way, but couldn't see what it was. The dregs were still bunched, but trying to stay in cover behind some machinery below. She could take out a couple, but the rest would spot her for sure.

Heavy footsteps pounded along the ducting toward her, she spotted a shimmering outline and made her decision. Staying behind the crates she pulled the rifle around and fired on the cloaker. Her bullet hit its mark and the cloak dissipated revealing a Fallen captain. It staggered, but it was not beaten. Another thud as a second cloaker landed behind. She fired again at the Captain's chest, as the sound of energy rounds hissed off the metal crate near her head.

The captain tried to raise his huge weapon, but she struck him again and he slowly crumpled, falling to ground level. The second captain shot at her. It's weapon sprayed shot that tore into the crates and boxes around her before ramming into her chest. It knocked her back against the wall and brought down her shield, but she withstood it. The shimmering figure rumbled toward her along the duct.

As he began to close the distance between them, she unlatched the scope, pulled it from the rail and let it fall to the ground. She knew she would have to stop him with her two remaining rounds, she would not survive a second volley.

She stood up to get a clear view of him, the dregs would be able to see her, but so be it. She tilted her head and looked straight down the length of the barrel into the captain's transparent face. Her finger started to squeeze into the trigger almost imperceptibly, as she trickled out a final half breath and as his stride brought his head into centre, she fired.

The shot stuck him squarely and his cloak flickered out, but a spray of dreg rounds caught her in her side and stung her badly. She did her best to ignore the pain and leaned into her second shot. The captain was visible but had not slowed and sprang from the duct toward her. Somehow she kept focus and raised the barrel to track his head. Between the pain in her side and the ringing of the rifle she could not hear the shot, but it caught him directly under the chin and his head snapped back viciously, his limp body almost cartwheeling as it fell out of sight.

She dropped to a sitting position an hugged her back to the crate. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she placed her hand on her side. The pain was slowly subsiding, if she had long enough she would recover, but the dregs would not wait. She looked into her palm and recalled the flaming hot fist she had struck the captain with on Venus. The anger and desire to live had produced something beyond her understanding, was she really made of light?

She held onto the pain and channelled all of her sense of frustration and injustice into her hand. Immediately a ball of fire burst into existence. As she held it she felt it's power, but it didn't burn her. She stood again and faced the dregs, they immediately opened fire. She hurled the grenade amongst them and it bounced once from the ground back to shoulder height, then exploded and scattered them into embers. The dreg shots struck her and she fell to the ground in agony.

She lay there for a time as she recovered, she wasn't clear how long it was. The electric rounds had stung her intensely, but her shield had taken the brunt of it and as the pain receded she began to recover her senses. Still lying there she reached for her rifle with one hand and pulled her last clip from her boot pouch.

"It's OK," said Ghost. "They're leaving, the Hive are seeing off what's left of them." She gripped her weapon tightly, but lay still and let the relief wash over her.

"What the hell Ghost," she mumbled. "We were set up."


	3. Chapter 3

She scuffed her foot through some of the ash where the dregs had been. She had practically erased them, it was as if they had never existed in the first place. Looking down at her hand, her mind began to race at the implications of what she had been able to do.

"The dreg outside has no House markings, which is normal," Ghost said. He was busy floating from body to body, scanning and talking to no-one in particular. "but neither do the captains, which is not." His observation pulled her back to the present.

"Not what?" she said. Ghost broke off from his analysis and returned to her.

"A Fallen captain is a fiercely loyal and important member of his House," he said. "I've never seen one that didn't wear his House colours before."

"Guardian?" Cayde's voice broke over the comms. "Guardian, can you hear me?"

"Oh we hear you just fine," she said.

"What happened down there? I just heard we lost contact with you, is everything OK?" She checked the area outside through the broken window and slung her rifle across her back.

"I was hoping you'd tell me." She walked over to the nearest captain, his weapon lay nearby, both still felt dangerous somehow.

"A little while after we lost contact, a Fallen Ketch was detected leaving a low orbit nearby," he said. "But so far, we haven't been able to identify it." She crouched to get a better look at the weapon, it had some markings on its side. She instinctively ran her fingers over the paint. Cayde continued in the absence of any response. "It sounds like an ambush."

"It felt like one." She stood up. "Ghost, do these markings mean anything to you?"

"I'm afraid not, there doesn't seem to be any similar insignia in our records. Perhaps we can find something in the archives."

"Way ahead of you. Cayde, I'm going to Venus." _Just try and stop me_. She had been looking for answers to secure her past, but apparently it was her future that was at stake.

* * *

She had her doubts that Holiday's loaner ship would survive the trip to Venus. From the outside it was a patchwork of panels of all shapes and colours and the interior was stripped down to the essential components. In the cockpit an unpadded metal chair frame faced a console of bare displays and input panels surrounded by a mass of wires. The ship creaked noticeably as Ghost jumped to FTL and again during deceleration. Despite the uncomfortable sensation it gave her, it was a relief to transmat to terra firma.

"Good news," Ghost announced. "The Vanguard have enabled a sparrow link. Let me introduce you to your new ride." He materialised the hover bike a few paces in front of her. "Right foot go, left foot stop, steer with your hands." She walked up to the sparrow and looked it over. "It's nothing fancy," he said. "You can always upgrade later, after you've saved mankind and whatnot."

"It looks safer than that piece of scrap we came here in," she said. She climbed on and rode a couple of circuits around a rock pool. "OK, this way right?" she rolled the sparrow to their right and followed the trail they had taken on that first day. As she opened the throttle the Fallen captain's cloak billowed from her shoulders and her circumstances began to feel very different from her first time here.

The sparrow felt light and responsive, she easily picked her way between the relics of vehicles and buildings of the Ishtar colony. She followed the series of waypoints Ghost sent to her new helmet display and they arrived at the Academy in a matter of minutes. When they entered the library she slowed the bike and gently drifted through.

Massive plant roots breached the walls and windows, tearing huge cracks, which had exposed the books to the elements and to ruin. Nature was winning its patient war against the structure, as if it fought to reclaim the knowledge gleaned from it over centuries.

She skirted the large statue at the top of the steps and headed deeper into the complex. Following a series of walkways and corridors connecting the main Academy buildings she entered the grassy commons where they had first met. She looped around the old wrecked ship and came to rest close to the crater where he found her.

"It's a Fallen skiff, isn't it?" She dismounted and walked to the edge of the crater, but felt a slight trepidation to go further. "Ghost, is my body in there?"

"What's left of it, yes." He said softly. She had expected as much, but the proximity made it visceral. ' _Because sometimes, it just isn't true_ '. She tried to focus on her need for answers.

"Was anyone else with me?" she asked. Ghost materialised and floated around the Skiff, scanning at various spots.

"Actually, your remains appear to be in the ground, underneath the ship." He said. "Perhaps you were buried here, sometime before the ship crashed."

She looked around the commons and noticed signs of Fallen occupation. Strange looking machinery and what looked like storage containers were dotted around doorways and alcoves. A huge canopy had been erected between the ship and the building which led to the archives.

She held out her hand, followed a hunch and visualised the sparrow in front of her. She allowed herself a slight smile when it manifested. "Show off," said Ghost. She drifted over to the archive building lobby for a closer look at the machinery there.

"Is this the same symbol we saw on the captain's launcher?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not," he said. "This is the sign of the House of Winter. They're an old enemy of the City, unfortunately we know them all too well." She pressed on to the doorway that she had squeezed through on that first day. It had been violently breached and the opening was now easily big enough to ride through.

The corridors and plaza beyond were filled with more Fallen artifacts, some of which were upturned or scorched. It was clear that quite a battle took place here, more than her own run in with a single patrol.

As she approached the archive entrance she spotted a single uniformed soldier apparently standing guard at the door. To the left, one of Zavala's soldiers stood in an alcove with a fearsome looking automatic rifle of a kind she didn't recognise. Opposite him, another of Zavala's men stood watch from the shadows, at the top of the stairs. She dismounted and walked over to the human guard, he raised a tablet in Ghost's direction, then greeted her.

"Guardian," he nodded. "You're clear to proceed, the Vanguard has provided you full access to the facility." Without acknowledging him, she walked over to the palm reader, removed her glove and placed her hand on the glass. Immediately the system buzzed an audible warning. The display turned red.

..Access denied.

..This is a secure facility, authorised personnel only.

..Ishtar Collective.

She wiped her hand against her chest plate and returned it to the reader. It buzzed again 'Access Denied.'

"Ghost?" she said

"Way ahead of you," said Ghost and he began scanning the access system. She looked down at the reader.

"This isn't the same unit," she said. "There's no crack in this glass." The guard stepped over.

"Is there a problem Guardian?" he asked.

"Why was this unit replaced?" Ghost seemed to be taking a long time with whatever he was doing.

"I'm not sure," said the guard working his tablet. "There's no record of any changes to the access system."

"He's right," Ghost said. "There's no record in the system's audit logs." He completed his scan and returned to face her. "There are only 17 people listed with access, 2 administrators and 15 scientists. No 'Lieutenants'."

"Open the door," she said to the guard. He tapped into his tablet again and after a few moments the archive door began to slide open. Two more of Zavala's men stood inside the door, carrying shotguns.

"Hunter," said the one on the left, nodding for her to proceed. A pair of skeletons leaned against the wall inside the door, she gave them a wide berth and started the long descent down a sweeping staircase, which led into a vestibule with another security check.

"Please leave your weapons with me Guardian," said the officer. Without a word, she unslung her rifle, handed it to him and walked into the archive chamber. It was a huge structure, which mostly comprised a cooling system with large tanks bathed in an open pool of coolant. She followed the gangway toward a rotunda containing a central access console, surrounded by a group of human technicians. An older man with a cheerful demeanour caught sight of her approaching and came to meet her.

"Welcome Guardian," he offered to shake her hand and she reciprocated somewhat awkwardly. "The Vanguard told us to expect you." He ushered her toward the group. "Your timing is excellent, we've just completed our programme of diagnostics, she's all yours." He indicated a stool in front of the main console.

"The access system outside," she began. "Who worked on it?" The man looked a little bewildered.

"To my knowledge, we haven't touched it." He looked around the tech group for a consensus and was met with shrugs and shaking heads. "We think the Fallen had a Servitor hooked up to it, to try and crack the door code, but thankfully the first Guardian arrived before they succeeded." He silently consulted the group again and they nodded in agreement. "I was in the first party to arrive, the Titans disposed of all the bodies and we checked out the power, cooling, etc." The group were nodding behind him, without his bidding this time, then a young women spoke rather unexpectedly.

"We haven't even attempted to access the archive yet," she said. "You'll be the first." The group nodded and then began to withdraw. The older man called back to her as he walked away.

"Let us know if you need anything, we'll be on the second level." He said, pointing upward. The Guardian looked at Ghost for a moment.

"What a friendly bunch," he said. She shook her head and sat down at the console.

"OK Ghost, first things first, look for any sign of Lieutenant T something n something, you know."

"You missed a few 'somethings'," he said. "but I get the gist." He started scanning. "There is a lot of data in here. Based on our 'clues', we can estimate that you were last here late Golden age, early Dark age."

"What clues?" she asked.

"Your um, remains," he said. "Although, it's just a guess, I'm not exactly an expert at such things."

"Oh." She felt the chilled air from the cooling pool and pulled the cloak around her.

"Anyway, I can see about 14,000 mentions of a possible name match, but less than 100 from the time frame we're interested in. 72 of these are human, 59 of which are male and none of the remaining 13 are Asian, so…nada."

"What?"

"Based on when you died and the security system's response to your palm print, there's no mention of you in the archive," he said.

She stood abruptly, almost toppling the stool and threw her hands to her head. Ghost stopped scanning and regarded her as she paced around the console.

"What are we missing?" she said.

"Guardian," Ghost said. "Perhaps Cayde was right, maybe we should let it go."

"Wait," she spoke as if she hadn't heard him. "The markings, from the Skywatch captain," she grabbed a handful of cloak a shook it in her fist. "This guy, there must be something." Ghost search again, the wait seemed like a age, she stopped pacing and propped herself against the console with both arms.

"There's no exact match.." Ghost said.

"But?" Her head hung in anticipation.

"But it has a number of similarities to the crest of Baroness Drevis, from the Fallen House of Wolves," he said. He brought up the images on the console display for her to compare. It wasn't conclusive by any stretch.

"Is that it?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so," he said. "But we could ask the Cryptarchs."

"No Ghost, right now," she said. "I don't trust anyone." She resumed pacing. "And Cayde least of all, can't you tell that? Aren't our minds linked?"

"That's it!" said Ghost. She froze and waited for him to continue.

"You might want to close your eyes," he said as he floated over to her. She complied and he began scanning her.

"If you remember, I was able to retrieve part of a residual memory from you when you first woke." He adjusted his position as he worked and she followed his voice around her head. "I have a theory that these are the memories you recalled as you..passed away." She was about to make a joke about him frying her brain, but he stopped scanning. "Hmm." She opened her eyes and he hung there without a word.

"What is it?" she said.

"I'm not sure why, but I can't find anything." He said. "It might be that the memories are only accessible during the establishment of the link." She sat back down.

"Can you establish it again?" she asked. He altered his shape a number of times without speaking, something she hadn't seen him do before.

"It's theoretically possible, but definitely not on the table," he said.

"Why not?" she asked. He sighed, clearly expecting her exact question.

"Because the only way to re-establish our link would be to break it first." His voice carried an emotional tone, but she didn't respond and clearly wasn't about to. "A Guardian and their Ghost are matched," he said. "Of all the Guardians in the universe I am bound to you." She sat like a statue and he knew only a glimmer of hope would budge her. "Of all Ghosts in the universe, you are bound to me." She hadn't even blinked. "If we break the link and can't recreate it, the next time you die will be your last."

"Fine," she said. "So be it."

"And I will be a Ghost without a Guardian," he said weakly.

"Ghost," she resisted the urge to cup her hands around him. "We can do this, it's going to work." She did her best not to sound as if she was trying to convince herself too. "So how do we break the link?"

"Well, basically we need to hook me up to a very, very large power source and dramatically overload all of my systems."

"Yep," she said

"And then, if that doesn't kill me," he paused, giving her an opportunity to stop him. "I should recover and be able to initiate a new link."

"Ok, let's do it," she said. She looked around the archive facility. "Does this place have enough power?"

"Oh dear, we're really going to do this?" he said as he floated away. "It has enough power," he began to shout as he got further way. "We just need to find a place where we can access it all in one supply." After a few stops he floated to the upper level. "This looks promising." His voice faded into the distance and the Guardian climbed the stairs to meet him. She looked around for the technicians, but they were gone.

"This access panel, you'll need to remove it." She ran over to him and after a quick inspection of the panel, she gripped its edge on one side and popped it off. "Ok, starting on the left pull every other wire from the top row and twist them all together." As she began to remove wires lights started to go out in the complex, a couple more and alarms began to sound. "We're going to be drawing power from the main cooling system, the lab coats will be in here soon and they won't be pleased." She completed the bundle.

"POWER INTERRUPTION IN MAIN COOLING SYSTEM, SYSTEM FAILURE IN 22 MINUTES." The computer calmly announced.

"Ok, done," she said.

"Ok, take the remaining wires and do the same, but don't let them touch the first ones." She worked as quickly as she could, some of the wires were a little shorter and bundling them was more difficult.

"POWER INTERRUPTION IN FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM, ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEM, ARCHIVE OFFLINE STORAGE SYSTEM.." Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a couple of technicians in the distance running toward her, they were shouting, but the alarms drowned them out.

Ghost was shouting too, although she could hear him clearly in her head. "OK, set them a fist width apart and back away!" he yelled. She set the bundles and ran toward the technicians, holding out her arms to bar them and turned back to see what would happen. Ghost floated close to the panel and turned to face her, he blinked once slowly, then backed into the wires.


	4. Chapter 4

The pain returned, but somehow it was worse this time. It crawled upward from the top of her spine at an almost imperceptible pace, as if the sun was rising inside her head. If she could have screamed, she would have, but she had no sense of her physical self. Just white, piercing pain and nothing else. How long had it been? centuries? forever? She couldn't tell. Her strength was all but gone, even the desire for it to end had left her, all that remained was the pain. Then she heard a whisper.

It was indistinct, but if she could just focus on it, perhaps she could find a crack. She heard it again, a man's voice, but it was still unclear, too far.

"Come to us." Said the voice. "Guardian!" The crack appeared and she didn't hesitate. She threw herself into it with everything she had left, knowing this would be her one and only chance. "Guardian?" The pain ripped through her, a wave of heat bursting outward from her core to the tips of her fingers and toes. Then it was gone.

For the first time she was aware of people around her in the room, she couldn't see yet, but she heard groans and pain sounds and a table being straightened.

"Guardian?" A different voice this time. "She's back." The voice was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. She opened her mouth to speak, but her vocal cords were frozen and her throat was tight. She felt a hand take hers. "Her vital signs are fairly normal," it was Ghost. "But I'm not sure what caused that."

"Caused what? What the hell is going on down there?" Cayde's voice was somewhat distorted.

"Something happened when she revived," Andav? "nearly tore the room apart." She forced her eyes open and tried to focus through the blur. She was laying on a table, Ghost hung in the air above her and a huge Titan stood beside her holding her hand. His armour was strange, a type she hadn't seen on any of the Guardians she'd encountered. At the fringes of her sight the archive lab technicians worked to straighten the room. Some of them were picking themselves or each other up off the floor. She withdrew her hand and raised herself to a half sitting position.

"Let's not do that again," she said weakly.

"Promise?" said Ghost. "You had us worried there for a while." She looked around at the technicians. "Don't worry, once I explained to the technical team that we had to cut the power to prevent the Vex intrusion, they were on board," he said. She looked at him blankly, if she had been fully functioning she would have blurted expletives. He seemed to wink at her in response.

"Guardian, are you alright?" the Titan said. He manifested his Ghost at his shoulder and his helmet dematerialised, his iridescent eyes were unmistakable.

"It's good to see you." She shuffled gingerly into a sitting position.

"OK, that's enough," said Cayde. "Everyone out of the room." The technicians scurried for the door.

"I'll be right outside," said Andav.

"Not you," said Cayde. "This is about to become your mess too." Andav waited until the last of the techs left and closed the door.

"All clear," he said.

"OK," Cayde cleared his throat. "Andav, last night our Kinderguadian was apparently ambushed by some kind of Fallen death squad." Andav shot her a questioning look and she nodded to confirm. "We detected a ketch leaving the scene, but we've no record of ever seeing that ship before. Ghost?" Ghost seemed surprised by the prompt.

"The Fallen involved bore no house markings." He let the news settle in Andav's ears, but Andav didn't seem fazed by it. "Except this mark," he projected the image. "On one of their captain's weapons." Andav rolled his lower lip and shook his head, he clearly didn't recognise it. "Which bears some resemblance to this mark we found in the Archive, which belongs to Drevis, a Wolf Baroness." Andav looked at the images, his face remained neutral.

"Cayde, I'll talk to my friend." He looked directly at the Guardian. "If there is something here, she will want to meet you." His words carried solemnity, but she nodded to him in agreement.

"Good," said Cayde. "OK, next item on our agenda. Why the hell are you trying to blow up my archive?" The Guardian looked at her Ghost, his shell was scorched on either side and some casing was missing on a couple of his fins.

"Did you get it?" she asked.

"I got it," said Ghost.

"Got what?" said Cayde "Ughh, why am I stuck behind this stupid..OK, got what Ghost?" Andav glanced between them.

"I have the Guardian's final memories." His voice sounded like he was smiling.

"Wait, what?" said Cayde.

"We've managed to retrieve fragments of her thoughts, just before she died," said Ghost.

"Fragments?" said Andav.

"I told you, not to mess with that," said Cayde.

"It's not your decision," she said slipping off the table onto her feet. She was unsteady, but she needed to stand.

"It is, if it involves destroying the collective knowledge of our lost civilisation," he said.

"The Archive is fine, we just borrowed the power for a few seconds." She turned to face Ghost. "Let's hear it."

"Well," Ghost began. "There is a lot of sensory information, most of which is not really possible to interpret, but there are some sounds and some images that I can recreate."

"Such as?" said Cayde.

"Such as," Ghost projected an image.

"It looks like a hallway in a small wooden building." Andav narrated for Cayde's benefit.

" _Okaeri_." Ghost replayed the word in a distorted, possibly female voice. "That's it for that sequence I'm afraid." A collective sigh of frustration ran around the group. Ghost displayed the next image.

"It's looks like a long line of humans, as far as you can see." Andav relayed. "They're in bad shape." The distortion was worse this time.

" _Bless you Tenshi_." Again a female sounding voice through the static. " _Thank you Tenshi. Traveller bless you Tenshi_."

"Is this the same person every time?" Andav asked. Ghost didn't interrupt his playback, but talked over it.

"I'm not sure," he said. "I'm recreating sounds from vestigial sensory information, it seems that the timbre of the voices is lost in the process." Ghost caught himself. "If what makes each voice different is even in the memory, I can't decode it."

"What is Tenshi?" Cayde asked.

"Lieutenant T something n something," Her voice had recovered some strength. The stream of gratitude continued to play.

"It's possible," said Ghost. "Anyway, there's quite a lot of that, so moving on." _Lieutenant Tenshi, Lieutenant Tenshi._ She recited it in the hope that it would trigger something.

"Here's where it starts to get more interesting. There's no image this time, but…." The static was very heavy. The Guardians winced as it began and Ghost lowered the volume for relief. The voice was garbled and lower in tone, but the words were clear enough.

" _Don't let anything happen to Maya and the others._ "

"What did you say?" said Cayde. "Ghost can you clean that up?"

"I'm sorry Cayde, I don't even know how I'm doing this," said Ghost.

"Play it again," the Vanguard demanded.

" _Don't let anything happen to Maya and the others._ " Cayde was quiet. She looked at Andav, he returned another facial shrug.

"Andav," said Cayde. "This is a waste of time, we need that sigil identified. Get going and keep me posted." Andav, didn't respond immediately. Instead, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she said.

"I'll be in touch." He held out his hand and transmatted.

"Is he gone?" asked Cayde.

"He's gone." After watching him dissolve away, she realised that there was one person she trusted after all.

"OK Ghost," said Cayde. "What else you got?"

"Just one more," said Ghost. "But it's a doozey." The static blared again, but Ghost pulled the volume down immediately.

" _Finish her, even an ember still burns_ …." The voice trailed away.

"That's it?" She propped herself against the table and let her head hang, as she had earlier.

"And you can't tell if this is the same voice as the other one?" said Cayde.

"Nope," said Ghost. "But if this voice is referring to the Guardian, then her death was intentional and orchestrated."

"Yeah, we got that," said Cayde "but.."

"But what?" she asked.

"Something, something I need to look into," he said. "Ghost, I need you to delete these files."

"What? Cayde, do you have any idea what we went through?" she said.

"And now you've heard it and seen it and it's a bunch of nonsense and I need you to delete it. Ghost?"

"Very well," said Ghost. She stormed for the door and headed back into the main complex.

"And we're moving," said Ghost. The room had been on the upper level, not far from the access panel they had used. Ghost took a shortcut to the console, floating off the gangway and through an open viewport to the rotunda. He began scanning immediately and by the time she arrived he had the results waiting. 'Good news first?"

"Just tell me everything," she said.

"Well, there is no record of any Lieutenant Tenshi," he said.

"Figures." She sat on the stool heavily and exhaled as if the exertion or the news had exhausted her.

"But, I searched on the word Tenshi and apparently it's pre-Golden age Japanese, meaning 'Angel'."

"Please tell me you have more good news than that." She hunched over and rested her face in her hands.

"Well, I also found an old video recording of pilgrims on their way to the Last City," he said.

"Really." Her voice was muffled through her hands.

"I think you'll want to watch this." His voice seemed so smug, surely he had found something. She hesitated to look, it was their last lead. She spread a couple of fingers and peeked through.

The video began with noise bars, but cleared to show a long line of pilgrims heading up a steep trail. It was a very similar scene to the image Ghost had managed to retrieve from her memory. As the camera panned the line, the Traveller came into view in the background. It seemed like it would take them a few days to reach it. Ghost began to forward the footage and she pulled her hands from her face and turned to face the monitor.

"Right..here." The person with the camera began to mingle with the crowd. They were mainly older people and small children and some of them carried injuries. An old woman made her way to the edge of the group and raised her arms to a figure standing in the shadow of a tall rock, just before the crest of the hill.

"Thank you Tenshi," she cried. Then another.

"Bless you Tenshi." The Guardian's mouth fell open and she pulled herself closer to the screen.

"Am I there?" She gasped. Ghost paused the video.

"You could be one of the children," he said. "But in your memory you are facing the pilgrims. I think it's most likely that you are the young woman with the big rifle, don't you?" She moved her head to the corner of the screen, where the figure stood. The image was poor and the area was in shadow, but she could see a woman wearing armour and a cloak, holding a long rifle. He stepped the video forward a few frames at a time. The woman raised her rifle and used the scope to scan into the distance, but as she lowered it Ghost froze the image again. Light was reflecting off the rifle and briefly illuminating the side of her face.

"Even with this poor quality image," Ghost said. "and the poor angle and only one side of her face lit, I estimate there's a .45 probability that is you." Her hand rose to her own face.

"What does that mean?" she said.

"It's you." he said.


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you sure he'll be able to help?" The Guardian was on her tiptoes trying to get a better look at what was happening at the front of the line. "Everyone seems to leave looking pissed off."

"Master Rahool is a highly respected Crypto-Archaeologist," Ghost whispered. "He just has a bit of a reputation."

"As what?" she asked.

"As an..eccentric." Ghost whispered more quietly. She leaned to her left to look around the robed Guardian in front of her.

"Ha," said Rahool to a fearsome looking Titan. "You always choose the strangest things!" The Titan shook his head, apparently disgusted, he walked away from the Cryptarch and immediately transmatted.

"Warlock," said the Cryptarch. The Guardian in front stepped forward, he was muttering something, but she didn't quite catch it. "Hmm, these engrams are older than your order." She tried to peek around the warlock again, without success, then suddenly he spun abruptly and strode away. "Give my regards to your order, Warlock." The Cryptarch called after him, but he didn't reply. Finally she'd reached the front of the line.

"What can I do for you, Hunter?" he said, but before she could speak, Ghost piped up.

"Master Rahool, would you do us the honour of investigating an image from the Ishtar Archive?" he said. She couldn't help smirking at Ghost's manner.

"I'll give you what answers I can," said the Cryptarch. "Let's see what we have then." Ghost projected a still of the young woman in the video onto the Cryptarch's table. "I've enhanced it as best I can," he said.

"Hmm, this looks interesting." Master Rahool stroked his chin a couple of times and bobbed around the image, like a heron stalking a fish. He disappeared into his curtained booth and returned soon after wearing a pair of spectacles fitted with an array of oddly shaped and coloured lenses.

He studied the image again, flicking his way through the lenses with surprising dexterity. "Now think, think," he said to himself. "Where have we seen this before?" The Guardian and Ghost shot a glance at each other.

"Do you recognise her?" she said. He seemed oblivious to her and disappeared again into his booth. He returned, thumbing through a huge book. He seemed to arrive at the page he was looking for.

"Interesting…Oh this is very interesting."

"Master Rahool," said Ghost.

"You wouldn't happen to know pre-Golden Age German, would you? Hm? No? Nobody does.." He flipped through a few more pages. "Aha, here it is," he declared. A collective sigh of relief came from the line behind her. The Cryptarch read them a quote from the page. "'Armed with sniper rifles, Takanome's Rangers gave cover to countless City-bound refugees.' Yes, yes, I believe this is one of Takanome's Rangers," he said.

"Rangers?" said the Guardian. Master Rahool removed the spectacles and brandished them as he spoke.

"Yes, a group of humans who protected pilgrims as they fled to the City, during the Dark Age." He put the book and spectacles down and resumed his spot facing the line. "I hope we helped you Guardian."

"Yes," she said as she began to consider the news. "Thank you." She walked away feeling numb.

"Titan." Master Rahool greeted his next customer behind her.

"So I was a Ranger." Ghost floated in front of her as she walked, but didn't respond. "So what? That doesn't help at all, does it?"

"Not immediately," he said. "But who knows, it's another piece of the puzzle."

"Oh, screw the puzzle, I need answers." She climbed the steps to Banshee's corner and went to sit in the shade of the old tree that stood nearby.

"Guardian, can I ask you something?" said Ghost. She took off her helmet and pulled the tie from her hair. Letting her head fall back against the trunk, she let out a long sigh.

"Sure," she said.

"I understand you need answers." He hesitated for a moment. "But what if there aren't any? Not real ones, not answers that really mean something." She sighed again. Running her fingers through her loose hair, she searched for something to defend herself against the notion, but didn't find it.

They sat like that for a few minutes, then finally, she broke the silence.

"Ghost." She turned to face him. "What you did for me back there, in the Archive." He blinked at her. _I don't deserve it._ "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said.

 

* * *

 

Her landing was more than a little awkward. She teetered on the brink of an outcrop, waving her arms in circles to prevent falling.

"I just can't get used to that third jump," she said, "I keep overshooting."

"Try spacing all three jumps equally," Ghost said.

She took a step back and launched herself into the jump. He had told her to imagine an invisible step, but it didn't feel solid when she hit it. There was a force, like thrust from a ship's engine, but where it came from was anyone's guess. Two. She tried to gauge the midpoint, from the second jump to her landing spot. If she could reach that, she could make it. Three. Had she lost too much height? She gave it everything and tucked her knees to her chest to land it.

"It wasn't pretty," said Ghost. The crest of the rock where she landed was weathered smooth and Guardian sized. She turned her back to the slope and leaned back to rest. The sky had been clear all night, but only now did she notice the extraordinary canopy of stars. "Can we go home now?" he said.

"This was your idea," she said, "remember?"

"Yes, but we've been out here for three days? Aren't you getting homesick?"

"For the Tower? Hell no. I'd rather be out here." She craned her neck to take in as much of the sky as she could.

"With the dangerous things?" said Ghost.

"At least out here, you know what's dangerous," she said.

"Speaking of which," he said. She turned onto her stomach and crawled to the very tip of the rock, looking in the direction he'd sent to her radar. The starlight wasn't bright enough to see much of anything. She drew her rifle and scanned with the scope.

"Nothing yet," she said.

"There, in that cave, above the platform," said Ghost. "They'll be visible in a moment."

"Yep, got 'em." The two vandals walked a quick circuit around the platform perimeter and return to the cave. "That's weird," she said. "Look's like guard duty to me."

"Guarding what?"

"Exactly." She checked the mag, set the rifle into position and waited.

It was some time before the vandals returned. She knew she would have to drop both of them quickly, to avoid either raising an alarm. She followed them with the scope. They didn't follow exactly the same route, but as they reached the edge of the platform to her right, they would soon wheel back. She trailed them just enough to catch them mid-turn, exhaling gently, she put slight pressure on the trigger. As their red silhouetted heads lined up in her crosshair, she followed through. Click. "Dammit! That's the third time today, it's getting worse."

She checked the rifle's action and cursed. "Can you guide me once we're inside?" She slung the rifle in anticipation.

"Yes, but it's going to be light soon, we don't have time to hang around in there." Said Ghost.

"Promise." She began to climb down, falling the last few feet, but landing quietly.

"You didn't hear anything after 'Yes', did you?" She ran at a crouch across the open area in front of the platform and leaped into the air. It was fairly ambitious by her standards and she grabbed onto the platform railing to avoid a fall. Slipping over the railing, she crept up to the cave mouth and waited for Ghost's direction.

"We're not far behind them, so don't push up too fast," he said. "OK, move now, take a right and stick to the left wall." They followed the vandals through a winding rock tunnel, which eventually led to a large, fairly well lit cave. They waited in cover as the vandals skirted a sizable rock pool and disappeared into a second tunnel.

"Ok, we're going right, then up there." She peeked around the corner. "There's another patrol up there, so wait for my signal." She sized up the jump as she waited. "Go." She ran into the cave and jumped early. After her second she vaulted off a ledge, half way up the face of rock wall she had to clear. The boost helped her reach the top with room to spare. "Keep to the right and wait in the tunnel," said Ghost.

The second patrol appeared a moment later to her right. They paused at the top of a ramp. "This is probably not a good time, but.." She wanted to say 'But what?', but the vandals were only a few feet away. They started along a raise walkway opposite from her and when they were far enough away, Ghost guided her into a second chamber.

"I was going to say, if the rock isn't confusing my sensors, there's a huge power source ahead of us." The tunnel ahead of them climbed for a time and then opened to the outside. "Oh, you're going to like this."

They followed a well worn trail to their left and as they rounded the cliffside she stopped in amazement. Two unfathomably huge ships filled the view. They were stationary and may have been docked. ""Fallen ketches," said Ghost, "I've never seen them this close or this low before." She carried on walking and took cover beside a group of rocks.

"What are they up to?" she whispered.

"The near ship belong to the House of Winter, but I can't identify the other one." She edged forward slightly and used her rifle scope to get a better view of the open deck at the base of both ships.

"There's a couple of guards," she said.

"No way. Whatever you're thinking, unthink it immediately!" Ghost's voice cracked. "There could be hundreds or thousands of Fallen in there. We need to report this to the Vanguard and get out of here, just like you promised."

"You're so easy," she said.

There was no obvious way down the hillside without walking right up to the ships. They would have to pass back through the caves. She glanced up at the sky. "It's getting light out, we better make a move." She walked up to the tunnel entrance and waited for the all clear from Ghost. "Let me know when," she said. "Ghost? Ghost?" He didn't respond.

She raised her palm and matted him. "Ghost?" He hung motionless in front of her. "Shit." Her radar showed movement further ahead in the tunnel. She snatched Ghost out of the air and ran into the tunnel. She remembered some Fallen equipment close by, that they'd passed on their way in. She raced to it and sneaked behind.

Her radar flashed, the patrol was close. She looked at Ghost his light was on, but he showed no other signs of life. _Sorry about this buddy_. She covered his light with her palm and pressed herself as close to cover as she could manage.

The vandals entered the cave where she was hiding. She tried to figure out her best course of action. She could move as they passed through, but who knows when they would turn back. If she waited for them to return, she might alert them with the slightest sounds. _Screw it_!

She sprang up launching herself high into the air. Reaching back behind her head, she sent fire to her hand. As her arm came forward, she flipped a flaming dagger toward the back of one vandal's head. Immediately she threw herself into a second jump, lunging toward the other. The dagger hit it's target with a flash of heat, which fed off the jet of gas escaping from the vandal's neck. The second vandal began to screech as it spun to face her, but she had already drawn her steel dagger from it's thigh scabbard. As she landed, she drove the point into his temple with all her momentum behind it. The blade slid deep into his head and he fell.

With one foot on the vandal's neck she tugged the knife free and wiped it on his cloak. With any luck she would only face the single remaining patrol as she left. She hurried down the tunnel. As she ran, she glanced down at Ghost in her hand. No change. _Did the Fallen do this? Or did I?_ The unmistakable boom of skiffs echoed down the tunnel behind her.

She reached the main cavern. Screeching sounds echoed off the walls from somewhere ahead of her. She couldn't see anything from here, but the time for stealth was definitely over. As she ran down the ramp she reached under her cloak, to the small of her back and drew a huge revolver. "OK you monster," she sprinted to the top of the rock wall, "let's see what you've got."

Leaping into the open air above the rock pool she spotted the patrol, who were bolstered by a group of dregs. She twisted in mid-air to face them and as she fell, she jumped backward and opened fire. She struck the first vandal in the face, but the second dodged, spoiling her follow up shot. She jumped backward again, toward the exit tunnel.

Dreg blades and energy rounds hummed past her. She aimed her pistol at the remaining vandal, but before she could fire, she slammed backward into a thick stalagmite and slumped to the ground. Her vision was blurred and she was too stunned to react to the warning buzz of a shock grenade a few feet in front of her. It exploded and sent blue pain jarring through her.

She floundered before trying to return to her feet, but the vandal didn't hesitate. He charged forward with his swords raised and landed a double strike on her before she could stand. The blows knocked her back down to the ground and she knew she would not be able to get up.

She heard the vandal roar above her, then the swoosh of his blades as he prepared his final attack. As she struggled to press her palms into the slick rock floor and raise herself, she realised her left hand was empty. _Ghost!_

The anguish lit a fire of desperation in her chest. She felt angry flames course through her body, energising her until she knew she would erupt. She rolled onto her back and aimed her terrible light at the vandal's face. She saw his eyes widen before the flame consumed him. She pushed forward onto one knee and incinerated two dregs with the next shot.

She stood and slowly turned to the remaining dregs, they scattered in unison. She claimed the life of the furthest one, as he ran in a straight line, away from where she stood. The fire withdrew, taking most of the anger with it, but enough remained. She lobbed a grenade over the rock covering the second. Without waiting for it to detonate, she stepped around the huge rock column and threw a dagger into the chest of the third dreg. The grenade exploded behind her. It was over.

She felt strong, despite the beating she had taken moments before. Her light was drained though and she would need a little time to recover it. _Ghost._

She walked over to the spot where she fell. Her pistol was there. She reloaded it and holstered it under her cloak, but there was no sign of Ghost. Looking around she noticed that the cave floor sloped sharply down toward the pool. She ran to it. The water was clear, but the uneven bed of pale rock would make it difficult to see him. She got down on her hands and knees and started to feel for him.

A barrage of murderous sounds echoed around the cave. She looked to the upper level and although she couldn't see any creatures from this angle, the telltale blue glow of Fallen shields lit the cavern ceiling. She searched faster, thrashing through the water. She was trying to search methodically, but her heart was beating fast and she was beginning to lose track of where she had already looked.

A deliberate thumping sound from above, broke her panic. She looked up to see a Fallen towering at the very edge of the drop. He was unlike any Fallen she had seen. At least twice the size of the largest captain. He wore a massive cross-shaped metal helmet that hid his face and his arms were mechanical, robotic. Except for one arm, one arm was missing and in its place was a huge flaming cannon.

The creature bellowed at her and immediately raised the cannon to fire. She burst out of the water and broke into a sprint for the exit. The cannon shot exploded behind her and the blast pushed her forward hard, almost knocking her off her feet. She zigzagged between stalagmites, waiting for the second shot, but instead she heard a heavy thud and a spray of water. She dared not look back.

She reached the spot where she fell and rounded the final stalagmite before the tunnel. There, in plain sight, on the ground was Ghost. She didn't need to stop. Running up the slope to the tunnel, she bent forward to scoop him up with her hand. A rush of heat ran up her back, as the creature's rocket flew over her. Instinctively she crouched lower, but was still able to keep moving forward. The round exploded in the tunnel ahead of her, filling it first with fire and then with smoke. Holding Ghost tightly in both her hands, she ran at full speed into the grey cloud.

She burst through the smoke and up the steep slope. The tunnel wound sharply and then opened to a small pool. Without breaking stride, she leaped over the pool and landed on the metal platform on the opposite side. Her radar flashed movement behind her, but she couldn't tell how close they were.

She kept running as fast as she could without slamming into the tunnel wall. She had been running for so long, she was starting to think that she had gone the wrong way. Then, she recognised the entrance just ahead of her.

For some reason, it was still dark outside. She might be able to slip away without being spotted. She turned the last corner into the entrance cave and with a final burst of speed, she ran outside onto the large platform. She took two steps on the platform and leaped clear into the dark.

Then suddenly, everything was red.

She was frozen, suspended in mid-air. She tried to fight against it, but she couldn't even struggle. Then she began to float upward. The red landscape fell away below her, as she was drawn higher and higher into the air. With all her might, she slowly rolled her eyes skyward, just in time to see the belly of the massive ship, before it swallowed her.


	6. Chapter 6

Nausea hit her before she was even fully awake. The urge to wretch was powerful, but for some reason she couldn't. She tried to open her eyes, but then she realised that they were already open. Still unable to move, she fought to focus on her surroundings. A bare room, with a curved metal wall; in front of her at least. The sickly green glow of strange symbols pulsed on the walls. It looked like writing of some kind. The nausea threatened to overwhelm her again. _Focus._

Straining her eyes to their corners, she saw what may have been rim of a hatch on her right. On the left a thick, dull chain was fixed to a huge hook on the wall. As her gaze lowered, she noticed that she was encapsulated in metal. An old, scarred cylinder of some kind. _Where the hell was she?_

 _Ghost? Ghost!_ She yelled for him mentally. She couldn't move her fingers, but she could feel that her hand was empty.

The heavy clanking of the door latch snapped her attention back to the present. Several figures walked toward her without speaking. A group of fallen, lead by a stout vandal, came into view. The vandal stepped forward and drew his face up to hers. Bathed in green symbols, he leered at her, making gutteral sounds that could have been disgust. If she could have spit in his face, she would have.

He grabbed a fistful of her hair in one hand and gripped her jaw with another. He barked as he tilted her head from side to side and she felt his stare look right through her skin, straight to the meat. Holding her head steady, he unclipped his ether mask with a second pair of hands, pulling it away from his mouth. "You..will..kill." His four eyes brightened as he spoke.

 _It's 'You will die', asshole!_ She looked inside herself for the light, tried to spark it with anger, but all she found was nausea. The vandal seemed to laugh gruffly as he snapped his mask back into place and walked away.

A second, much smaller vandal approached. He was shackled and the two captains behind him held long chains fixed to the collar around his neck. He moved differently to the others, skulking over to the dais on which she stood. He raised a hand to her face and gently lifted her eyelids in turn. He examined her for a few moments then turned his attention to the huge metal object surrounding her. As he laid his hands on it and closed his eyes, it began to glow brighter.

The clanking of the door startled her and the shackled vandal entered and approached. This time he made a low clicking sound deep in his throat as he examined her and held her gaze for a what felt like an age. The vivid green glow washed over his face as he closed his eyes.

The door latch clanked open again and shook her. She heard the sound of chains approach. _Wait!_ The vandal approached and examined her. _Wait! What is happening?_

The door opened again, he came again. She began to feel weaker. Her mind was clouding. Again the door. Again he came. She started to fade. The realization that she would not last much longer generated nothing inside of her. Her light had drowned in a sea of sickly green.

The door opened again, but by now she felt no reaction to it. She felt hands on either side of her face. Her eyes were too dry to focus.

"What have they done to you?" An unfamiliar voice, but as the face came closer she could see a vague outline.

_Cayde? No, Cayde's face is blue._

"Hang in there kid, we're gonna get you outta here, soon"

The door was eased open with a muffled creak. The vandal appeared in front of her, without shackles or jailers. He spoke to her in a hoarse whisper, but she couldn't understand. _The hunter!_ She tried to tell him with her mind. _He's going to help me._

The vandal reached into his tunic and pulled out a vial of something. He took her hand, placed it firmly into her palm and closed her fingers around it. He looked to the door for a moment and then whispered to her again before shuffling away.

For the first time that she could remember, the door was silent.

The vial was cold in her hand, but she didn't dwell on it. What it might mean, what the vandals intended for her, none of it mattered. She was compelled to endure whatever this was, this violation, even to hold the freezing tube in her grasp against her will. The only thing that mattered to her, that kept her from oblivion, was that the Exo, the hunter, was going to help her. _Somehow, he would help her._

This time she was ready when the door latch finally opened. She listened intently to the familiar footfall and damn chains approaching. _I..will..kill!_ The shackled vandal examined her briefly, then barked to another fallen out of view. The heavy chains at her side rattled through pulleys somewhere above her and the huge cylinder around her began to rise. As it rose, a painful tingling ran through her body and by the time it cleared her head, she realized that she could move. Her legs gave way immediately, but the vandal steadied her until she could stand on her own.

He slipped a simple shift over her head and pulled her bare arms through slits in the sides. Growling at her oddly, he turned to walk away and she followed him. He led her on a long passage through the ship. Her pace was slow and at times she had to shield her eyes from painful bright lights. She did her best to remember the route that they took, but her mind was still clouded and she seemed to drift in and out of consciousness as they walked.

They arrived at a small and well-worn hatch with guards posted on either side. The shackled vandal regarded her for a moment and spoke again in the strange growl, then abruptly turned to his captors who led him away. The two remaining guards led her through the hatch and down a steep gangway onto a waiting skiff.

The interior of the shuttle just seemed like a scaled down version of the ketch. The guards took her forward, to a compartment below the main deck and motioned for her to climb into what looked like a large G-seat. She was still very weak and complied without any protest.

The skiff was underway almost immediately and although she tried to care where she was headed, she knew there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

* * *

Shuddering deceleration woke her rudely. The idea that she had slept comforted her somewhat, but physically she felt no better for it. She remembered the vial the vandal had given her. It was still there, in fact, it seemed to have welded to her skin. She was numb to the pain and she couldn't drop it now, even if she wanted to.

The skiff came to a stop and the guards turned to address her. She climbed down slowly, stalling for time to review her options, but each though of escape seemed to bring the nausea to overwhelm her.

As they waited to disembark, she caught a glimpse of the terrain outside through a dusty porthole. It was barren rock, perhaps not even a planet, more likely an asteroid. _Perfect._ They walked through some kind of industrial complex. It was clearly disused and temporary lighting lined the battle scarred passageways.

They came to a guarded door, the resident guards were somewhat beefier than her escorts and after a quick exchange the new guards took her through the door. It opened into a large cafeteria, with most of the tables and chairs tossed into piles on either side of the room. At the far end, a makeshift fallen throne room had been set up and the stout vandal who had taunted her on the ketch sat on the throne.

Her guards stopped some distance from him and he didn't acknowledge her arrival in the slightest. A she stood waiting for whatever would happen, she tried to pierce the haze and notice her own state of mind. There were no thoughts of escape, of revenge or even resistance. She remembered something about a exo, but that was fading too. She was simply waiting, what for and why were not important.

Somewhere behind her, a door opened and another party approached the throne. She didn't look back to see who it was, but they walked up beside her and a woman came into view.

"Let's get this over with." She seemed strong, military. Her shock of pink hair was a stark contrast to her uniform, but her eye patch suited her disposition perfectly. She didn't seem to notice the hunter either.

The vandal shifted his gaze slightly and spoke without looking directly at the awoken woman.

"Deal..is..wanted..yes?"

"You said she wouldn't be harmed, what the hell do you call this?" The woman gestured to the hunter accusingly.

The vandal stood abruptly and glowered at the visitor "Taniks..want it, Drevis..want it, _Skolas_..want it," he bellowed "but Veliniks..has it!" He grasped at the pommels of his sheathed swords with his lower hands and held his upper arms outstretched. "Deal?"

"Where is her ghost?" She seemed unfazed by his display. The vandal barked to one of four captains surrounding his dais.

"Ghost..dead!" The captain tossed the lifeless ghost at the awoken's feet. "Now..mine!"

The woman reached to a pouch on her hip and took out a ghost. It blinked several times and looked around the room. The woman began to approach the throne, but the nearest captain interdicted. She handed it the ghost and stepped back to retrieve to the hunter's dead ghost from the floor.

The vandal examined the ghost and seemed satisfied. "You..mine."

"Yes, my Kell." Said the ghost.

The vandal kept his attention on the ghost, but dismissed the woman with a wave of his hand. Her guards turned to escort her away, but then all eyes turned to Veliniks as he suddenly began to wheeze heavily.

All at once he tossed the ghost aside, drew his swords and reached for the back of his helmet.

The ghost hung in mid-air and expanded into a ball of blue light before materialising a huge titan a few feet in front of the throne.

As Veliniks gasped for breath the exo de-cloaked behind him brandishing a vicious knife. He tried to swipe at the back of Veliniks' helmet, but vandal's flailing arms and swords kept him at bay.

The woman launched herself at the captain in front of her. As she leaped, she drew a blade from somewhere in her jacket. She landed with her knees in the captain's chest and stabbed the knife deep into it's neck several times before it hit the floor. She spun around and yelled at the disoriented titan. "The girl!"

He turned his head to look over his shoulder and hesitated for a moment at the sight. Then he broke into a run toward her, almost out of control. As her guard raised his pistol, the titan lowered his shoulder and slammed mightily into his chest. The concussion threw her and the second guard several feet through the air. She landed heavily, unable to protect herself from the fall.

Sounds of gunfire rang out around the room. Her hair had fallen across her face as she lay motionless and all she could discern were flashes of light and sounds of death.

None of it mattered though. The exo had come, Andav had come, but they had come too late for her.

She felt the cold slip over her cheek and spread to her lips. It numbed her face and began to trickle into her mouth. Black cold, the taste of darkness spilled over her tongue and filled her mouth. Finally, she thought, there was something she could do. She swallowed.

Instantly, cold fire erupted from the centre of her chest and radiated out to the edges of her perception. She felt strong, so strong and she could feel everything. The spin of the asteroid, the hum of the tungsten lights, the two remaining captains and the squad of vandals about to burst into the room behind her.

She was already standing and she turned to faced them as the door flung open. As she raised her hand to shoot her light at them, tongues of green flame feverishly licked at her arm. Squeezing the trigger, she felt her rage pour into the shot. The round loosed and a terrible bolt of green fire screamed toward the vandals. The blast ripped through them and the door and walls behind, taking most of the passage with it.

She turned to face the throne. Veliniks had been sparring with the exo, but they had both been startled by the blast. She stepped over the charred bodies of her guards and walked past Andav as he tried to recover his senses.

She didn't avert her gaze from Veliniks, but took aim at the remaining captain who had been about to shoot the awoken woman. The woman desperately threw herself out of the way landing awkwardly in a pile of chairs, as she fired her second shot. The captain was incinerated and the whole midsection on the left wall was blown out.

The ceiling shook hard. Lights, tiles and beams began to fall around her, but she didn't hesitate and continued over to Veliniks, pressing the gun into the vandal's face.

"I..will.." Before she could finish, an arc grenade came floating over her shoulder and exploded in the middle of Veliniks' chest. The hunter, exo and vandal reeled as their senses were overloaded by the blast.

The green flames surrounding her whole body flickered out and she fell to the ground unconscious. Just before Veliniks could recover enough to assault the exo, he was struck from behind by the awoken woman with a sturdy piece of ceiling.

She sheathed her blade and brushed the blood soaked dust from the front of her uniform. "OK, someone needs to tell me what the _fuck_ just happened."

The exo looked up at her. Pulling the tip of Veliniks' sword from his forearm.

"Thanks Petra." He said.


	7. Chapter 7

 She sat shivering while the medic picked the last of the glass splinters from her hand.

 “Does it hurt?” he asked.

 “No, just cold.” He took out a foil blanket and wrapped it around her, then continued.

 “I’ve never treated a Guardian before.” He seemed to regret his choice of words halfway through them. “I’m sure Commander Venj will find a way to fix your ghost.” He dropped the last splinter into his tray and put down his tool. He didn’t wait for her to respond, instead, he took out a spray pump and coated the wound in something. “There.” He looked up at her. Her gaze was firmly fixed on Petra and the two Guardians.

 “Listen,” the exo was somewhat agitated, “she serves the Vanguard, she needs to go back to the Vanguard.”

 “We’re not going to debate this Shiro.” Petra’s tone was calm, but the way she folded her arms across her chest sent a clear warning. “Veliniks is one thing, but Drevis and now Skolas? This is my Queen’s concern.”

Shiro stepped forward looked her in the eye. “She’s a Guardian.”

“Not anymore.” Petra’s tone tiptoed between victorious and smug.

Andav remained silent but left the others to approach her. He squatted, matching her eye level.

“She’s right.” She said; the implications seemed to take her far away. Andav placed his hand on her arm.

“We need to understand this, that’s all.” His words didn’t seem to reach her. “I’ve known Petra for a long time, I trust her with my life.”

“Do you trust her with mine?” She said.

 

* * *

   
She’d been confined to sickbay since they transmatted aboard Petra’s ship. At first, she’d appreciated the rest and treatment, but as she began to recover, it became increasingly clear to her that she was a prisoner.

She decided to focus on her recovery for now, she was still weak and when her strength returned, there would be time to act. 

“Shiro?” The exo de-cloaked a few feet from her. “What are you doing?”

 “I’m a superspy,” he walked over and sat on the edge of her bed “I’m..superspying.”

 “How did you get in here?”

 “Trade secret.” He shrugged with mock modesty. “You look better, but that isn’t saying much, how are you doing?”

 “I’ll live.” She sat up cross-legged and folded the blanket over her lap. “I’m still trying to figure out everything.” She was far away again, but Shiro gave her time to return. “How did you guys find me?”

“It was Petra.” He shifted onto her bed and crossed his legs too. “Once Andav showed her the fallen mark from the ‘death squad’ ambush, she was hooked.”

“What did it mean?”

“Silent Fang, assassins for the house of wolves.” She shook her head. It was just another clue that didn’t seem to make any difference. “Then we took the last report from your ghost months ago and she followed the breadcrumbs to Veliniks.” Her demeanour changed with the news.

“What report?”

“From Venus,” he seemed a bit surprised by her reaction. “the two ketches.”

“But that was just..” She was far away again, but this time she seemed to come back stronger. “A week at most.”

He paused and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry, we’ve been chasing that ship for months, not days.”

She withdrew from him and moved to the head of the bed, leaning back against the wall. She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but now she felt even more violated than before.

Shiro broke the silence rather awkwardly. “Oh, almost forgot, I have a surprise.” He took out his ghost. “Now, private ship to shore comms is impossible, the awoken monitor everything. But I enabled the mechanical line for the drive system, which used to be used for automated fuel requests to remote depots before the reef wars.” She looked back at him blankly, but it did nothing to curb his enthusiasm. “Of course the depots are all gone, but the deep space repeaters aren’t and..well, superspy.” A distorted, flickering hologram began to render a couple of feet from them. It was Cayde.

“Is this thing working? Hello, Shiro, are you there? God damn..”

“Hey boss,” Shiro held a finger to his mouth “signals too weak, I can’t see you, but I can hear you.” A weak smile broke across her face.

“OK, whatever. So I got your report and I got to admit,” he was pacing around his room, but the hologram had trouble keeping up. “It’s some pretty messed up stuff.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Well, Petra will be heading straight to the reef. She’ll be hoping that Veliniks will be enough to buy her a second chance with Mara Sov. She won’t let anything stop her from dropping him off at the prison.”

“She made that very clear already.”

“So, maybe we just go with it.” Cayde sat at a desk and put his feet up right in front of the camera. “I mean, whatever is happening to our Guardian, doesn’t sound like anything were equipped to deal with anyway. Mara and her witches might be able to help..” Cayde was startled by someone and jumped out of his chair. “Oh I was hoping to catch-” The feed dropped.

“Mara and her witches?” she said.

“The awoken queen and her closest advisors.” Shiro’s ghost disappeared and he got ready to leave. “So, sit tight, we have a plan. We’ll figure this all out, OK?”

“Shiro?” she asked as he prepared to cloak.

“Yep.”

“Just how did Cayde end up in charge of everything?”

“I asked him that once,” he flickered into almost nothing, “he said it was because he was the most awesome.”

 

* * *

 

When Shiro arrived back at his assigned quarters, his ghost matted in first.

“Bug sweep clear.” She announced. He de-cloaked and settled wearily onto his bed.

“Did she buy it?” he asked.

“She showed no physiological indicators that she suspected a ruse.”

“I love it when you talk sciencey. ” He put his hands behind his head in victory formation, ”In that case, it must be true.”

“What is that exactly?”

“I am the most awesome.” He said.


	8. Chapter 8

Some clothes were laid out at the foot of her bed when she woke in the morning. She took it as a sign of progress and played along. She showered and changed into them in time for breakfast. After breakfast, a pair of fearsome looking but courteous guards called for her and took her to meet with Petra. As they walked, the rather feminine clothes made her feel even more out of place than she already did. When they arrived, one of the guards used the intercom outside Petra’s room.

“The Guardian is here to see you, Commander.” She said. The door slid open and the guards motioned for her to enter, while they took up positions on either side of the door. Petra’s room turned out to be nothing special. A couple of books on a shelf, what may have been a pennant with a family crest and a sofa. Otherwise it was pretty much the same as all the other rooms she had seen since coming aboard. Petra waited on the sofa.

“Come Guardian, sit with me.” She said.

“I’m not a Guardian anymore, remember?” Petra didn’t react, which made the hunter feel more awkward. “I’m sorry, I’m not looking for a fight.”

“I wasn’t prepared to give you up to Shiro, but I spoke without care.” Petra patted the sofa next to her. “I’m sorry.” The hunter sat down, but tried to maintain a air of leverage.

“I have so many questions,” said Petra, “but I just need you to answer one.”

“Why me?”

“Exactly,” Petra turned to face her directly, “it’s the only part of this that makes no sense to me.”

“None of this makes any sense to me,” the hunter leaned back into the sofa, “I don’t think I’ll be much help.”

“Veliniks was playing a game to which he was not invited.” Petra said. “He believed that Skolas needed you to further his ambitions.”

“To be leader of the House of Wolves?”

“Kell, yes.” Said Petra. “So by taking you for himself he has scuppered Skolas’ plan.”

“Then why do to me..” She started to flush at the memory. “Whatever it was they did?”

“Perhaps it prevents you from doing what Skolas needed.”

“But, if anything, I’m more dangerous now, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” said Petra, “yes you are.”

* * *

 

She’d expected to see Shiro and Andav when they disembarked, but boarded a shuttle with no sign of either. As they pulled away from Petra’s ship, it didn’t seem as big as she expected or as elaborate. The Reef however, was another story. It was a sprawling mass of titanic shipwrecks littering the edge of deep space. Most of the hulks showed signs of life, but many didn’t. The scale of it all seemed impossible to fathom, terrifying and beautiful all at once.

The shuttle headed for a comparatively small ship at the centre of a cluster of smaller ships. As they got close, two fighters flew in and escorted them into a hanger. She seemed to be collecting guards at each stage of her trip and when she stepped off the shuttle she had about ten altogether.

They took her down a long suspended walkway to a sizable platform surrounded by more troops. Petra stood at the head of the troop and offered her a reserved nod. An ornate seat, draped in fine cloth stood empty at the centre of the platform. Purple and gold banners hung from stout pillars on either side, which rose to meet the vast ceiling. Still no sign of Andav or Shiro; she felt more alone than ever.

After some time, several awoken women filed onto the platform. They wore matching robes with hoods and masks and walked from behind both pillars in solemn unison. As they took their position, the hunter felt a bad energy from them. They objected to her, somehow she could feel it.

“Approach.” One of the Witches commanded. Her guard walked her toward the throne, stopping several paces away. Witches stood on either side of it. Now she felt the full force of the disdain. It didn’t come from them all, just one. She stood to the left of the throne, directly behind Petra. The Witch hated her, wanted to end her in the most terrible way. The Guardian looked around for someone to help, the only person she knew was Petra and she wouldn’t, for sure. If she didn’t do something fast the Witch would attack, her heart was beating so quickly she felt weak.

“It has begun.” Said another of the Witches. “It is clearly Darkness.”

The hateful Witch’s eyes burned brightly through the slits in her mask, but she didn’t move or speak. The Guardian felt cold emanating from her own chest. A burning cold, it felt hungry and savage, but it would defend her; if she would only release it.

“We must act.” Another Witch said.

“Not yet.” The hateful Witch finally spoke. Her voice dripped with loathing and jealousy. She wouldn’t just kill the Guardian, she would extract a terrible end, a being of pure evil. Green flame began to break out across the Guardian’s body, although she hadn’t called it yet. It was as if her power knew it was needed. It demanded to be used, if she didn’t use it now, it would be too late. _Kill!_

A burst of green flame radiated from her and knocked the surrounding guards off their feet. The troops drew their weapons and aimed them at her.

“Hold!” The vile creature raised one hand to stay the awoken attack and the hood fell from her revealing a shock of white hair. If the Guardian didn’t shoot, her own power might consume her. _Kill!_ Her power grew again and the flames engulfed her. The remaining guards backed away shielding themselves.

“The Darkness!” A Witch called out.

“No!” Said the Demon Witch. “It is Light, tainted by Darkness.” She stepped forward. “Hold!” One hand remained in the air, the other removed her mask. Her face was hideous and contorted. _You..Will..Kill!_

“I feel her, calling for the liquid.” Said a Witch.

“As do I.” Said the evil one, her hair began to bristle and move as if it had a life of it’s own.

“It is as Petra said,” said a third Witch, “she cannot use her power without it.” The evil Witch reached the column of green flame where the Guardian stood.

“But how could you know it was me?” the evil Witch spoke softly, overwhelmed by the roar of the flames, only the Guardian could hear her. She reached into her robes and took out a vial filled with black liquid.

“Which side of you yearns for this Guardian,” as she spoke she extended her hand, “the Darkness or the Light?”

The Guardian slowly raised her arm and a ball of black-green energy began to form in the centre of her chest. It seemed to howl inside her. It was cold, colder than anything she had felt before. If she tried to hold it in, it would kill her. She snatched the vial from the Witch’s open hand, snapped it open with her thumb and threw the black liquid into her throat. She screamed as she found herself falling at incredible speed. Chill wind rushed passed her all around, the cold from the abyss below would freeze her before she hit the ground.

But before she succumbed, someone caught her, an awoken woman. She slowed their fall and they began to float.

“I can help you Guardian,” she bore a resemblance to the Witch, but she was beautiful. Terrible and beautiful, like the Reef. “But you must open your mind to me.” She said. “You will see what I will see, but I warn you, you may not like it.”

The Guardian nodded.


	9. Chapter 9

The Guardian surrendered to the Awoken woman. The rise of the Darkness within her had taken all she had left. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and drifted into the nothing.

"Do not be afraid." The woman gripped her tightly and they began to fall slowly. As they fell, she saw her Fallen captors, the symbols, the skulking vandal with the tattered green cloak. Then they fell faster. The cold air began to whistle past her ears. Fragments of the memories Ghost had retrieved flashed before her mind's eye. Faster. The whistle turned into a roar, the cold began to reach her again. _Do not be afraid_. Then suddenly, they stopped.

"Open your eyes." Said the woman.

It had been a hot day and her feet were covered in dust. She stopped at the water pump and washed them and her hands as best she could. She picked up the basket and ran into the house, slipping off her sandals and stepping up onto the cool wood in the hallway.

"Tadaima!" she called.

"Okaeri." Her mother called back. The smell of freshly steamed rice drifted down the hall and she followed it into the kitchen. Before she went in, she arranged the flowers as best she could, so her mother would be pleased.

"How did you do Ayane-chan?" Her mother smiled warmly and put on her glasses, rather theatrically.

"I got some good ones." Reaching on her tiptoes she raised the basket onto the kitchen table.

"Oh, you really did." Her mother gasped with delight and gently picked up a few of the fragile blue flowers to take a closer look. "These were always your Grandmother's favourite, but the ones you pick for her are the most special." She hugged her mother's waist.

"Can we eat first?" Ayane said.

"Just a little," said mother, "It's a long walk to the cemetery and we need to be back before dark, remember?"

But it was already dark and her mother began to fade into the nothing. She closed her eyes again. She felt herself floating upward, she felt the woman's hands on her arms, lifting her and the cold below.

It had been more than an answer, it was a reason. Finally, in this dark, cold place she began to feel alive for the first time. They slowed again and stopped. Eager to feel more, Ayane opened her eyes.

She watched the pilgrims pass below as she set her scope's range.

"Samson?" She said.

"Ready Lieutenant." His voice crackled a little in her earpiece.

"Don't call me that." She said. "Preacher?"

"Ready Leftenant."

"Forget the Fallen," she said, "I'm gonna kill you both myself." She readied her rifle and scanned the scene below. The stream of people had thinned a little, which was normal for this time of day. This exposed section on the road didn't get much shade and the sun was right overhead.

"Hey Boss-," the crackling drowned out whatever came next.

"Dammit Sammy," she said, "if you've broken another mic I'll-"

"-said movement, two o'clock, over the-" she scoped around the area, but couldn't pick up anything. Just then, a large group of pilgrims came into view.

"Sammy?"

"Mor-! Mor-! Mort-!" he yelled.

"Shit Preach, it's mortars." She quickly pulled binoculars from her pack and looked around, but still couldn't see any Fallen. She checked the pilgrims; the large group moved slowly. "Shit! It's mostly old people and children." She took a knee and aimed her rifle right into the centre of the pilgrims. Her finger rested on the trigger and she let out a steady stream of air until just enough dirt was visible in her scope. Her shot sent up a column of dust and the sound bounced around the cliff walls. The pilgrims started to scatter and screams washed up from below. Samson opened fire, but she couldn't see where he was shooting.

"Preacher?"

"Negative."

She jumped to her feet, kicked away the brush and started down the hill. The loose rock and dry dirt fell away easily underfoot as she slipped her way down. The hollow thump of a mortar round launching broke through the din.

"Shit!" The people were running in all directions, falling over each other. The mortar landed a short way up the cliffs. A huge cloud of dirt sprayed over the people and a few large rocks tumbled onto the road. The sound was deafening.

She reached the road and ran passed the pilgrims to a huge boulder at the edge of the drop.

"Can't see you boss, too much dust." Preacher's voice was barely audible over the screams of the children. She climbed the rock to see what they were up against as another mortar launched.

The sound drew her eyes to the spot. A line of Fallen, hugging the hillside immediately below them. She unslung her rifle quickly, but before she got a shot off, the mortar landed on the road behind her. The blast almost blew her off the boulder. She was pitched forward and slammed into the far edge of the rock, but managed to stop herself from falling down the hillside.

The screams had stopped. She pulled herself up onto her hands and knees. The dust was thick in the air but starting to clear. Rifle. She turned around and snatched it up and took aim where she thought the mortar would be and opened fire.

By the time she could see, she had spent her first clip. The shots had landed 50 yards from the mortar crew but had sent them to ground. Still no screams. She swapped the mag and resumed firing. She took down every Fallen she could spot and shot into every bit of cover in the vicinity of the launcher.

"Sit rep!" She called into her mic. Still on her knees, she scanned the plateau through her scope.

"A few pils down on the road," Said Preacher, "plenty of injured taking cover. No sign of Fallen, could be worse."

"This has got Traviks written all over it. Call it in."

"Boss." Preacher's voice came from a few feet behind her. She turned to face him reluctantly; she already knew what he was going to say. "Sammy's gone." She looked over to where Sammy's nest had been. The mortar had reduced that side of the cliff to rubble.

Without another word, Preacher turned, picked up a lone crying child and began to walk in the direction of the Traveller. The pilgrims wearily resumed walking and almost immediately, it appeared as if the attack had never happened. As Ayane climbed down from the boulder and began to guard their rear an old woman pressed her way through the crowd toward her.

"Bless you Tenshi." She said before the nothing consumed her.

This time, as they began the journey upward, Ayane looked directly into the eyes of the Awoken. The loss had been palpable, as was the lingering taste of dust in her mouth, but she savoured it. It was real, it was who she was. When they stopped she looked out into the nothing again.

"All I'm saying is that we can't rely entirely on tech." Ayane stood at a long table littered with blueprints. "We need some checks and balances."

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Cayde took up position opposite her."Because it's not, not at all."

"Now you're just being difficult." She rested her hands on the table and hung her head with a sigh.

"Is there a problem Cayde-2?" Dr. Sundaresh stood in the doorway. Cayde almost stood to attention when he saw her.

"No, no problem doctor."

"Good, then finish your lover's quarrel because the Speaker is here." Said the doctor as she walked away.

"What?" Cayde and Ayane threw looks at each other.

"You couldn't get your way so you called daddy to fight for you." As he spoke Ayane crossed to his side of the table. "If I wanted to fight you," she said, "you'd already be dead."

They followed the doctor down to the main floor. As they walked, she whispered to Cayde.

"Look, when he asked me to look after this stuff it seemed a bit odd." He walked faster as if he didn't hear her. "But the more I've seen down here, the more I understand. These guys are doing some extreme stuff and-" He stopped and faced her.

"Which is why they hired me to take care of it." He pointed to his face as if it made his logic irrefutable, then caught up with the doctor.

When they reached the cooling stage, they joined the many scientists and techs who were assembled. A squad of City guards lined the vestibule entrance and after a short delay, the Speaker entered. A round of applause broke out from some of those gathered, but others seemed to pointedly refrain. He stopped at the railing not far from the entrance and addressed the crowd.

"This facility was conceived by the generations of pioneers who came before us. What you have created, will serve the many generations who will succeed us." He paused and spread his arms. "Our universe is a marvel of mysteries and untapped power, your achievements will give us the chance to unlock some of that vast potential and perhaps a glimpse of what lies beyond it." The crowd seemed transfixed. "In this vault, we have secured humanity's most precious and powerful treasures; our collective knowledge and the minds to make use of it." The Speaker leaned forward and gripped the railing fiercely. "Rest assured, it will be put to good use."

Sparse applause broke out again, the Speaker seemed to soak it in for a moment, then turn abruptly and stride away. As he disappeared into the vestibule half the guards followed him, but half remained. A murmur amongst the crowd quickly grew into raucous chattering. Cayde shot Ayane a look. Something didn't feel right to her either, she subtly shook her head in reply. Separately they made their way through the crowd toward the entrance. As Ayane got near the vestibule Cayde hung back nonchalantly.

"Sorry Miss," One of the guards stepped in front of her before she could exit.

"Let me pass." She tried to step around him, but he blocked her.

"Why don't you go back and join the party."

"I am Chief of Security for this facility, appointed by the Speaker. You," she poked the guard in the chest, "are in a lot of trouble, Mister." His partner stepped forward, readying his automatic rifle.

"Stand down Citizen or I'll put you down." She raised her hands in mock surrender.

"Oh, you boys are in a lot of trouble." She turned as if she would walk away, but instead spun around and smashed her heel into the temple of the AR guard. As he keeled over, the first guard reached for his holstered gun. She grabbed his hand and twisted it up toward his shoulder at an impossible angle. He started to scream in pain, but she struck him with an open-handed uppercut and he crumpled.

Cayde rushed passed at astonishing speed and buried his shoulder into the chest of the next nearest guard, then somehow without losing momentum spun and launched a knife into the leg of the last guard in the vestibule. The crowd of researchers began to call out in confusion.

Cayde kicked away the guard's guns and keyed the passcode into the weapons locker panel. He tossed Ayane's rifle to her and retrieved his over-sized revolver; kissing the barrel before holstering it. They ran up the stairs several at a time. The Speaker would be through the vault door by now, but if they were fast they could still catch up.

They reached the door and Cayde keyed the panel. Nothing. He keyed it again. Nothing.

"Shit!" Ayane said.

"What the hell is going on?" Cayde hammered his fist against the door.

"We're not getting out of here until they let us out," she said

"Are we locked in?" A small group of techs had followed them up, with the doctors close behind.

"Perhaps we can override the security system." Said another researcher. "We might be able to-" He was interrupted by the huge door mechanism activating.

"Everybody back!" Yelled Ayane. "Back downstairs, now!" Cayde drew his pistol and stepped back into a shallow recess in the wall. Ayane walked down a few steps and knelt facing the door so that just the barrel and the very top of her head would be exposed to whatever was on the other side.

The thick metal door parted and instantly a barrage of gunfire burst through the crack. Several smoke grenades were tossed at the door, but only a couple made it through. Cayde kicked one down the stairs, the other began to roll down by itself step by step. Ayane sprinted for the open door and burst out into the thick cloud of white smoke. Cayde's covering fired thundered past, above her head. Ayane ducked down as she felt her way over to the palm reader.

Return fire from beyond the smoke searched for them, but Cayde kept them guessing with his movement and shot out into the plaza from all angles. She tried not to think about how much longer the cloud would hide her and placed her hand on the reader. It was hard to read the display, but her muscle memory kicked in and soon the door was closing. She raised her rifle and brought the butt down hard on the reader. As it struck, she was struck hard from behind and a sword burst out of her gut spraying her blood over the console. Intense pain shot down her left leg and her left arm fell limp. She gasped for breath, but none came.

The sword withdrew and frozen in shock, she waited for a second blow. Cayde's pistol appeared out of the haze and felled her attacker with a single shot. She slumped over the console, but Cayde immediately hefted her onto his shoulder and broke into a run. As she hung down his back, blood streamed from her throat into her nose and mouth. She squeezed the rifle in her right hand, her left arm hung down.

Cayde keyed a passcode into a panel and the door opened. He rushed in, closed the door behind him and set Ayane down in the corner. It was the guardroom, there were medkits and weapons. He grabbed a kit and tossed it on the floor next to her, then straddled her legs and looked at her wound.

"You're gonna be fine," he said frantically opening the kit. He took out a stim and stabbed it in her gut. It felt hot, like a burn and spread over her stomach. Her pulse started to race harder and she bled faster. He picked a can of sealant, attached the nozzle and held it over the wound. He looked into her eyes. "Ready?" She nodded and turned away quickly. He pushed to nozzle into the wound and squirted the contents. She screamed in agony for a few seconds, then everything went numb and cold. She realised she was sweating and wiped her face with her good hand.

"You're not gonna be dancing for a while," he placed a hand on her cheek, "but I heard you're a lousy dancer, so.." He was covered in her blood, she wouldn't last more than a few minutes. She reached over and grabbed another stim and shoved it into her arm. "Woah, take it easy with that will ya." She picked up a third, but he caught her wrist. They looked into each other's eyes and Cayde looked as if he might say something, then he gently took the syringe from her hand and injected it into her thigh. She burned all over and could feel her pulse shake her whole body. A surge of pressure began building in her head and she spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor beside her.

"They probably heard that scream," she said. "It's not going to take them long to figure out where we are."

He helped her to her feet and she staggered over to the ammo shelves and filled every pocket in her armour with sniper clips. Then she picked up two more stims and shoved them into her pocket. Cayde lifted a huge LMG from its bracket on the wall. He checked the belt feed and held it up at chest height.

"Ready?" He said. She smiled a half smile; blood still leaking from the corners of her mouth.

"Ready Lieutenant."

He hit the door release with his elbow and it slid open to reveal a pack of dregs searching for them. He was taken back for a moment, then he stepped through the door and began to mow them down. Ayane leaned against the door jamb. Her arm was still numb, but thanks to the stim she could use it a little. She propped her rifle up with it and took out the two vandal snipers at the top of the stairs opposite. Those were the obvious ones, the others would be harder to spot.

When there were no dregs left to shoot, Cayde checked his magazine and looked back at her.

"Fallen?" he said. She didn't care, there was no time. Instead, she willed herself forward toward the plaza.

"Just didn't see that coming, that's all," Cayde muttered under his breath.

Ayane setup at the opening to the plaza. She knelt this time and poked the rifle barrel around the corner. Several shots hit the other side of the wall and the ground next to her. Cayde sprinted through the opening and ran straight for an alcove behind the stairs. Several shots followed him until he made cover, but his speed had surprised them. The thump of the LMG rang out from behind the stairs as he flanked the Fallen that had dug-in on the lower level. He was flushing them into the open plaza and she picked them off as they appeared.

He worked his way through the lower level until he reached the stairs at the far end of the plaza. She would have to climb the stairs if she had any hope of covering him. She took out one of the remaining stims and stabbed it into her chest. She called out as she tried to cope with the rush of pressure in her chest and head. The ground seemed to be trembling underneath her and the ceiling seemed to loom down toward her.

She broke into a run, quite out of control and sprinted up the steps. She felt as if her heart was about to explode, her pulse was so loud, she could barely hear anything else. Taking cover behind a pillar on the upper level, she held the rifle in the crook of her bad arm and reloaded with her right. Her hands were shaking badly and blood-soaked, but somehow she did it.

Cayde burst onto the upper level with his revolver blaring. He was shooting into cover, but it wasn't clear if he had hit anything. He continued charging and shooting until he was almost out of bullets, then all at once a group of vandals broke cover and ran toward her. The first two were entirely surprised and she dropped them each with a headshot. The third spotted her and hesitated long enough for Cayde to shoot it in the back. The others ducked into a hallway.

Ayane walked over to where they had run. Cayde was on the opposite side of the hall and signalled for her to stop. He reloaded and stepped up onto a crate by the wall. Without looking, he aimed his pistol around the corner and emptied it into the passage. She followed up, stepping forward, but the vandals were already dead.

"Let's go." Said Cayde. They moved down the stairs and followed the corridor to the commons. As they reached the door, Cayde stopped and helped her sit against the wall, out of sight. She had been moving faster than her body could handle, her left side was completely numb now, but the pressure in her head had forced her to keep moving regardless.

"Hang in there," he whispered, "I'll see what's going on." She nodded and let her head roll back against the wall. She suddenly felt tired, her eyes became heavy and started to close. If they did, she knew they would never open again. She wiped them dry with her sleeve and fought. "You OK?" said Cayde, she nodded again. "OK, there's a ton of Fallen out there, they're loading something onto a Skiff." He became animated as he searched for the words. "A bronze statue or exo or something like that." He started to reload his pistol. "Anyway, whatever it is, it's important enough for them to pull all of this and that means we can't let them have it."

"Speaker?" Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

"No sign of him, sorry." He cocked his weapon. "It's mostly dregs and vandals, I think I can take them. This door panel is still working, all you have to do is lock it once I'm through, OK?"

"Cover," she said.

"You've got more important things to do." He rested his hand gently on her shoulder. "Don't let anything happen to Maya and the others." He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "You did good kid." He whispered. He stayed low and looked out into the commons again, waiting for the right moment. "Oh yeah," he glanced back at her, "it was Clovis Bray, they said no security hires; the less people know and all that."

He left and took with him the last of her resistance. Her heart still hammered in her chest, but she knew that there was little more than stim and stubbornness left in her veins. She finally allowed her eyelids to fall and relaxed her grip on the rifle. She couldn't reach the keypad now, even if she wanted to.

A blast shook the hallway. Some kind of electrical energy crackled in the aftermath and ozone filled the air. It was close, not far from the door. Fallen barks and heavy footsteps. Someone grabbed her violently by her chestplate. Her eyes half opened, a Fallen captain. It dragged her through the doorway into the centre of the entrance hall and left her there. It barked again and a number of other Fallen scurried out into the commons.

"Ah, Lieutenant Takanome, good to see you again." Said the Speaker. The shock gave her the strength to open her eyes. The Speaker sat on his haunches beside her, some hands roughly propped her up from behind. "Have you met Taniks?" He gestured to the captain. "Of course you knew his brother Traviks very well, didn't you?" Reflexively her fingers tightened, but her hand was empty.

"This is a terribly sad business isn't it?" His head tilted slightly as he spoke, but his mask hid any real expression. "Most of humanity are worthless creatures. They spend their whole lives obsessed with their own preservation, all the while knowing that death is inevitable." He gestured to her. "But, there are a few of us, who live for something greater than themselves. You've delayed the demise of many a pilgrim on that road; in exchange for your own. It's a commendable achievement for sure, but the City is becoming too strong." He began to stand. "Solkis cannot afford that, none of us can afford that." He began to walk around her. "We must have balance, He must have balance or the inevitable will come sooner and more terrible for us all; Fallen and Human alike." He gestured toward her again. "Hence, here you are." He nodded and whoever was propping her up let her fall back to the floor. "As I said, it's a sad business." He began to walk away and looked to Taniks. "Finish her. Even an ember still burns if it can be stoked."

Taniks was large, even for a captain. He carried some kind of cannon over his shoulder and stepped forward to stand over her body. He leaned down and roared into her face, but only a trace of her remained and she couldn't react. He raised his foot and stamped down angrily on her bad arm. She heard the bones splinter, saw her blood splatter onto his boot, but she felt no pain. He leaned over again, pulled her face up to meet his and looked into her eyes. Whatever he saw or didn't see made him throw her back down in disgust. He barked a curse and stepped over her to retrieve something beside her. He lifted Cayde's lifeless body by his belt and walked away.

Her fingers flexed again. The right side of her body still worked, if only she hadn't let go of her rifle. She flexed her fingers again and they caught hold of something. She manoeuvred it into her hand; the last stim. The sound of ships engines firing up came from the commons behind her, she would have to act quickly or it would be for nothing. She brought the needle up to her neck, pushed it in and squeezed the plunger. The burn came fast and intense and something seemed to burst inside her head. Her hearing went and her vision turned pink. Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes. MOVE.

She rolled onto her good side, pushed herself onto her good knee and started to drag herself toward the door. The ground began to tremble. It was too hard to tell if it was a second ship or the effects of the stim. She couldn't afford to turn around, she had to get to that rifle, nothing else mattered.

Finally, she reached the doorway and she could lean against the wall and slide over to the rifle. She knew what to do. She picked up the weapon and used it as a crutch, it wasn't the first time, for either of them. She retraced her steps and moved faster for a while, but she kept slipping on the trail of her blood. The effort was sapping the last of her adrenaline.

Once she crossed the entrance hall she caught her first glimpse of the ship, with what looked liked Taniks just climbing aboard. She stumbled down the steps and out onto the grassy courtyard. The skiff increased its thrust and started to rise into the air. She couldn't shoot from where she stood, she didn't have the strength left to raise the rifle. There was a huge metal cargo crate a few steps ahead of her, she pressed for it, but the distance seemed impossible to cover before Taniks would be gone.

The ship cleared the top of the buildings, but instead of accelerating away, it hung motionless. She didn't question it, she was almost at the crate. She looked up again and the skiff started to come about. Its turrets activated and began to turn toward her, she fell to her knees. Letting the rifle drop to the dirt, she grabbed the barrel and leaned it against the edge of the crate. Gripping the small of the butt she slid it into position.

The turrets fired and the salvo struck the opposite side of the crate. She couldn't hear the impact, but it rocked her and she almost lost her balance. She ducked down lower to aim and tilted the end of the barrel upward. She could only see the tailfin of the skiff in her scope, but there was an opening underneath it which housed a bundle of pipes or cables. It would have to be enough. She didn't manage her breathing or finesse her pressure on the trigger, she just emptied her entire clip into that one spot.

The skiff fired again and this time she did lose her balance, she let go of the rifle and managed to stop herself falling back all the way. She saw sparks burst from where she shot, but not the level of damage she was hoping for. It had been her last act, she could do nothing more. The very last of the stim was leaving her and with it any thoughts of fighting on. The skiff began to roll toward her, very slowly at first, but then it began to pick up speed. A flash came from inside and smoke started to pour from under the tail.

She would have liked to smell the grass underneath her or the rain from the heavy clouds above her, but she would not. The turrets lost their aim and fell limp. The ship continued to slip and started to fall out of the sky. It was coming directly for her. She took one last breath and closed her eyes.

"Ayane," said the Awoken woman. She opened her eyes. She was kneeling on the floor, a few feet from the Awoken throne. The woman knelt in front of her, holding her tightly by the arms. Petra stood next to her, pressing her pistol to Ayane's head. "Enough Petra." Said the woman.

"Yes your Grace," said Petra.

"Ayane," said the Queen, "did you see?"

"Yes,' she said, "I saw."

"Do you remember?"

"Oh yes," Ayane said, "I remember everything."


	10. Chapter 10

The view from the upper deck had been spectacular as they circumvented the Reef and now it seemed they were headed into deep space. Mara Sov had asked Ayane to join her on this trip, but she hadn’t said where they were going or why. It didn’t seem to matter to her though, everything seemed different now. She hadn’t simply remembered her past, she had lived it. The experiences changed everything. The Speaker had been right all along; whatever she had been was not important. It was what she did now that mattered.

The elevator door whispered open behind her and the Queen walked onto the deck. Ayane stood and bowed to her as she approached. Mara sat and gestured for Ayane to join her.

“Are you well?” She said.

“Yes your grace.” They sat and looked out into the black for a time. Ayane had been waiting for a chance to thank the Queen for what she had done, but as she searched for the words Mara Sov spoke first.

“I want you to know that the moments I shared with you are all that remains of your human life. You have no other memories of it within yourself.” The Queen turned to face her and let the news sink in before she continued. “These memories defined you,” she looked out into the void again, “but now that you have returned to this reality, will they still define you?” Ayane joined her, staring into the black.

“Are you asking if I can fight the Darkness in me?” She said.

“I believe you will resist Guardian,” her tone was grave, “but can you defeat it?”

“I want to defeat the Speaker.” Ayane said.

“As do I,” said the Queen, ”but what will it achieve?”

“What else can I do?” She said.

“Your memory of him is from hundreds of years ago. It seems to be the same man, so either he died and returned as you did.”

“Or he was made of light, even then.” Said Ayane.

“If he is a creature of light, will we be able to kill him?” Mara stood and began to pace.

“If we kill his ghost first.” Said Ayane. “If he even has one.”

“His collusion with the Fallen may be just one play in a larger game.” She stopped and folded her arms. “If we succeed, we may never know his whole plan or be able to prevent it.”

“What about the Vanguard,” said Ayane, “do you trust them?”

“Most humans and guardians revere him as their leader,” said Mara, “they will not take a challenge to him lightly and we must tread carefully around them.”

“Surely they’ll listen to the Awoken Queen.”

“If I move against the Speaker, many will see it as an act of war and our cure may be worse than his disease.” The Queen walked over to the window and looked out.

“What we salvaged of the Exile’s potion will not hold for long, soon you will want to kill me again.” Mara said. “I cannot allow you to remain in the Reef or return here until we have undone this sorcery.”

“If you can’t help me with it, then I have no reason to be here.” Said the Guardian. Mara turned her back to the glass and hesitated before she spoke.

“Years ago, a group of Guardians journeyed into Earth’s moon to destroy a Hive god. They did not succeed, nor did they return.” Ayane tried to manage her expectations of how the Queen’s story would end. “One of these Guardians was said to be quite mad, but his knowledge of the Hive remains unsurpassed.”

“But they all died?” Frustration or desperation forced the words from Ayane’s lips. “Years ago?”

“By all accounts, yes.” The Queen walked back to the Guardian, holding her fist in the centre of her chest. “But I feel him, even now. He lives somehow, somewhere down there in the dark.” Ayane stood.

“Can he help me?” she asked.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not.” Mara said. “But you will not survive what lies ahead of you in this condition and that,” the Queen’s eyes seem to burn brighter, “I may be able to help you with.” Ayane felt the ship begin to decelerate.

“At last.” Said Mara. “Come with me.” They took the elevator to the lower deck and walked to a room with an airlock. A couple of attendants stood by with vac suits. They helped the Queen into hers and then Ayane. As they suited her, she caught sight of her reflection in the tinted visor of the Queen’s helmet. Her skin was palid and pulled tightly over her gaunt features and her hair was dreadfully thin. She traced the line of her cheek with her fingertips and for a moment she was lost again in the memory of nausea.

“Guardian?” The attendant was waiting to fit her helmet and carry out her suit checks. The two then walked into the airlock and closed the inner door. Mara opened the buddy channel.

“In my lifetime, few have learned of this place and none from beyond the Reef.” Ayane nodded inside her helmet. “You can never speak of it, to anyone.” The Queen switched back to ship comms. “Proceed.”

A klaxon sounded and the outer door opened. Mara walked to the edge of the airlock and looked out. The remains of a vessel hung there in the dark, illuminated only by lights on the Queen’s ship. It wasn’t like anything Ayane had seen in the Reef or anywhere else. It was sleek yet the surface was irregular, as if it had scales. Almost half of it was missing. It had been torn away by some massive force she couldn’t imagine. The Queen stepped off the airlock and used her thrusters to head toward it. Ayane did her best to follow. It took a little while to get the hang of the suit, but after some experimentation she was able to fly straight and caught up.

As they got closer to the ship, their radio began to buzz. Mara reached out to take Ayane’s hand and pointed to the centre of the breach. Not long after, the thrusters in Ayane’s suit began to splutter and failed, along with the radio. The Queen appeared to expect it and Ayane just went with it.

They drifted into the remains of a deep shaft. It seemed completely dark away from the lights, but after they alighted Ayane noticed a faint light at the far end. Still holding hands, the Guardian and the Awoken Queen used the walls of the tunnel to drift toward the light. As they approached, a weak gravity began to pull them down and soon it was possible to walk.

They reached the end of the tunnel, but there didn’t appear to be a door of any kind. The light was bleeding through gaps between the overlapping tiles which formed the exterior of the ship. Mara raised her hand and rested it on a tile. It seemed to pulse and a faint ripple of energy radiated out from it. It travelled across the whole wall and down the length of the tunnel behind them. The Queen pressed her hand into the tile and it gave way, along with the surrounding tiles. Her hand sank into the wall, then her arm and she walked forward, disappearing into the structure. She gripped Ayane’s hand tightly and pulled her through.

Ayane found herself in a large empty room. The walls, ceiling and floor were polished black and separated at regular intervals by lights. Other than that, the room was devoid of anything. They walked to a passage, which ran straight and through a series of similar rooms, but there were no features or markings in any of them. Finally, they reached a door. It was polished black like everything else, but convex and door shaped. As they approached, it silently slid open and led to a small, round ante chamber. Mara ushered her in, but didn’t follow.

“Leave everything in here,” the Queen spoke through the open door, “except this.” She took Ayane’s ghost from the side pocket in her suit and handed him to her. He was lifeless and Ayane set him down carefully before undressing. She was becoming increasingly aware of the toll the Fallen had extracted from her. Her body was wasted, it was being consumed by the Darkness. She self-consciously tucked her hair behind her ears, as if to make herself more presentable in front of the Queen.

Mara pointed to a door on the opposite side of the room. “There is light beyond that door.” She said. “It may give you what you need.” Ayane took her ghost through the door into a second round room that was larger than the first. The centre of the room held a broad column, but otherwise, it was as stark as the others.

As she stepped forward the central column began to rise. Immediately, Ayane was pushed back by something and nearly lost her balance. There was no sound or wind or any sign of the force. Her bare feet slipped on the polished floor and she struggled to stand her ground. As it rose further, it revealed a black sphere made of the tiles from the outside of the ship. It turned slowly.

Ayane looked back at Mara, but the door was closed behind her. She began to press forward toward the sphere and after her third step, a tile broke off from the sphere and flew at her. It struck her on her shoulder, but instead of hurting her, it attached itself. A shaft of brilliant light, shone from the sphere where the tile had been and flashed around the room as it turned. The tile had shaped itself around her skin, as if it were part of her. She pushed ahead and two more tiles flew at her, then a fourth. They moulded to her leg and stomach. More intense light beamed from the sphere and she had to look away to protect her eyes.

Although the force was still powerful, she seemed to be growing stronger with each tile that attached to her and as they neared the sphere she was almost completely covered in polished black. Squinting from the brightness, she looked down at Ghost, but he showed no sign of life.

All the tiles had transferred to her now, and unrestrained, the sphere began to expand to fill the room. It engulfed her silently, but she immediately felt its power. The light felt so intense, it seemed to transcend the visible. She could feel it around her, trying to penetrate her skin and seep into her bones. She was blinded, but as she focused on the sensation, she felt the tiniest flutter in the light. A rhythmic pulse, the brightness stuttered somehow and in those almost imperceptible gaps she caught glimpses of the Last City and the Tower.

“Guardian.” It was a voice she had heard before, but couldn’t place. “Come to us!” the voice commanded and she felt a coldness begin in her chest. No! Her rage caused a rush of energy to race down her arm into her hand, shaking Ghost violently. She started to step away. “Ayane!” The voice made her name sound like a threat and she started to panic, stumbling backward. As she fell, tiles began to leave her and return to the centre of the sphere. She shuffled back toward the door and more tiles flew away, but she was losing the strength she’d gained and began to falter. The light began to recede though and as she approached the door the last of the tiles had returned and it was sealed again.

She lay there on the floor for a while and tried to catch her breath. For the first time, the floor felt cold against her skin.

“Umm, excuse me for interrupting whatever this is, but where exactly are we?” Ghost said.

 

* * *

 

As Ayane entered the dock, Petra was waiting for her.

“If it wasn’t for the armed guard, I wouldn’t have recognised you.” Petra dismissed the escort with a nod. “You look well.”

“Petra.” Ayane said.

“I imagine you were hoping to have someone else see you off.” Her smile was both playful and condescending. “I do come bearing gifts though, to avoid a total disappointment.” She opened a box resting on a crate beside her. “Shiro was called home by the Vanguard, but he asked me to give you this.” She took out the Silent Fang cloak and handed it to the hunter. “Apparently, he risked his life several times over to get it back, blah, blah, blah.” Ayane smiled at the thought that he would not let her forget it, if their paths should ever cross again.

“I don’t know what it is you are about to do Guardian, but my Queen has asked me to help in whatever way I can.” For the first time since they’d met, there was no hint of intimidation in Petra’s manner. “The Vanguard has allowed me to visit the Tower for a while, which should be interesting. I’ll wait for you there until you say otherwise.”

“Thank you Petra.” Ayane felt the strength in her own voice again.

“Also, you’re going to be needing this.” Petra picked up a rifle from behind the box, it was well worn and its dull grey paint was flaking in places. “It doesn’t look like anything special, but it may surprise you.” Ayane slung the rifle over her shoulder and Petra held her gaze for a moment, her smile turning a little at the corners of her mouth.

“Thank you, it’s very kind.” She said.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” She stepped back and with a mock flourish, presented the ship anchored in the bay behind her. “Courtesy of Her majesty Queen Mara Sov.” It was an Awoken fighter of a striking design. “We’ve sent the keys to your ghost, hopefully everything is to your liking.”

“Is there anything else?” Ayane said.

Petra walked up close to Ayane and placed a hand on her shoulder. “One last thing Guardian,” she leaned in closer and spoke softly into Ayane’s ear, “if you come back here without my permission, you’ll be dead before you land.”

 

* * *

 

Ayane tamped down the soil around the last of the blue flowers. Who knew if they would grow here on Venus, but they had a fighting chance and that was more than many others. She took a few steps back from the wreck.

“It looks nice, you did a good job.” Said Ghost.

“I don’t know why I feel sad,” she said, “my body’s down there, but I’m still here.” The drizzle had collected in her hair and a drop ran down her nose. She looked up at the clouds and smiled.

“Maybe it’s for the ones you had to leave behind.” He said. She picked up the rifle and slung it across her back.

“I hope this piece of shit works,” she said, “or it’s going to be a while before we see the sky again.”


	11. Chapter 11

BOOK TWO: 'The Light Below'

"This is a new level of stubborn, even for you," said Ghost, but Ayane refused to take the bait. She carefully shifted from sitting to kneeling and leaned forward to look over the ledge and down into the Hellmouth.

"I still can't see anything, how much longer?" She said.

"If the climb down doesn't get any easier, it's probably another couple of hours before you can risk a jump to the bottom. But stop changing the subject. "

"I told you," she said, "it's a secret."

"You can't have secrets from me, we're neuropathically linked," he said.

"Then _you_ tell me where we're going?" She felt Ghost bristle in the air behind her.

"I've changed my mind, jump whenever you like," he said.

Ayane unslung her rifle and scoped the cliff wall further down.

"It's too dark now," she said, "scope's useless from here on."

Ghost floated down from the ledge and searched the rockface with his light.

"What about that one?" Her voice was a loud whisper.

"Nope, I've seen how well you jump, remember?" He continued scanning and decided on a jagged finger of rock, almost directly below her, but it was a considerable drop. "How about this one?" he called up, but she was already falling. She used her light to slow herself, but still hit the ledge pretty hard and hugged the smooth wall to avoid falling again.

"OK, next one," she said.

"Stubborn _and_ reckless." He headed down and began searching again. "You know, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe there's been some kind of terrible mix-up. And that somewhere out there, a disciplined and thoughtful guardian is suffering under the care of some woefully inadequate Ghost," he said.

A blinding flash of green light tore through the centre of the chasm and startled Ayane. Without anything for her hands to grasp, the sudden stiffening of her muscles sent her pitching backward from her perch. As she tumbled, she tried to use her lift, but simply launched herself into the shaft of light. Her mind flashed back to being trapped in the tractor beam of the Fallen ketch on Venus, but this was different. Her fall began to slow enough for her to right herself. She managed to pull her feet underneath her, then without warning, she struck the ground hard.

She could see others nearby, Fallen and Hive just a few feet away, but the impact had stunned her and it was all she could do to simply stand and recover. She'd cried out when she'd hit the ground, but the creatures seemed oblivious and were moving away. A line of Fallen shuffled slowly into the gloom. Hive thralls clamoured around them in numbers, but for some reason they weren't attacking. Ayane bent forward to catch her breath, trying not to lose sight of the creatures.

Crystal torches lit the platform where they had landed, but the rest of the cavern was shrouded in darkness. The procession headed toward a huge pallid lamp, set between the rocks in the distance. She slipped into the shadows to her left. "There are hundreds of things in here," said Ghost, "and it's getting harder to reach the ship, the further we move away from the light". The lamp grew more brightly in the distance. The horde had grown considerably and if the Fallen were still alive, they were nowhere to be seen.

The lamp dimmed again as the throng moved away from it, she unslung her rifle and tracked them, but the cavern floor wasn't at all flat and she would lose them soon.

As she moved out from her hiding spot, a thrall lurched forward to face her. She sidestepped it, pulled her dagger and spun to strike it with torque. At the last possible moment she pulled her blow and froze. The thrall hadn't moved, in fact, it didn't seem to notice her at all. She kept the blade close to its head and turned to take a closer look. The eyeless creature heaved as it breathed and slowly turned its head from side to side, but it didn't know she was there. She backed away slowly and continued after the group, moving from rock to rock, cover to cover.

As she approached the lamp it started to brighten again. She could see there were thrall scattered all around her, although they didn't seem to see her, the light seemed to agitate them. She drifted further away from it and continued creeping through the rocks, parallel to the path. The lamp dimmed and soon she was plunged into almost total darkness.

"Can we review this plan?" Ghost whispered in her mind. He was right, it was hard to see how this would end well, but what else could she do? This terrible place may well be the end of her, but right now, the Darkness inside her scared her more than whatever might lay ahead.

The Hive horde appeared again further along the path, silhouetted against a second lamp on the horizon. "Stop!" Ghost yelled. Ayane almost cried out in surprise. "Don't move." She was desperate to ask why, but daren't make a sound. "Big hole," he said. She looked at the ground in front of her, but it was too dark to see.

She dropped to her knees and felt for the edge of the hole. As she searched, an eerie glow quickly rose from the bottom of the pit. A group of cursed thrall were scrambling up the sides of the shaft toward her. She shied back and caught herself with her hands behind her. At the opposite side of the pit one of the creatures clambered out and began sniffing the air. She was transfixed by the sight, but another brightly glowing skull sprang up suddenly, right in front of her. Startled, she instinctively kicked out and slammed her heel into its forehead. "No!" Ghost cried, but he was too late. The creature erupted into a bright cloud of vapour with a loud crack. The hissing gas stung her painfully and her leg fell completely numb as an intense cold gripped her. A wave of shrieks rolled around the Hellmouth, closely followed by the sound of hundreds of chitinous feet, clattering over the rocks and closing in on her.

Ayane refused to panic. She tried to crab-walk away from the pit, but the cavern floor was craggy and her limp leg was heavy enough to make it a struggle. Several more cursed thrall climbed from the pit and gathered around where the one had exploded. Their keening unnerved her, but she fought her instinct to scurry and instead slowly crept backward until she was pressed against rock. The host of thrall began to arrive. There seemed to be hundreds of them, peering out of the dark all around her, their features limned by the cursed gloom.

* * *

"I'm sorry Andav," said Cayde, "all I can say is, it's an important mission and her location is strictly need to know. Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"Are you in a bar?" Said Andav.

"It's Vanguard business." Cayde's voice grew hushed and exasperated all at once. "Just..hang tight," he hissed, looking over his shoulder, "I'll let you know when I can." He hung up the call unceremoniously and finished his drink in one long draw.

"Hey, boss." Shiro-4 eased onto the stool next to Cayde. "What are we drinking?"

"Anything?" Said Cayde.

"Nope." Shiro drummed lightly on the bar in anticipation.

"Where the hell is she?"

"Beats me," said Shiro. "Like I said, last known: Hellmouth 06:42 local, then..nothing."

"You don't think.." Cayde couldn't quite bring himself to finish the thought, instead he called the bartender over and motioned to his empty glass with one efficient hand movement. Shiro edged forward in his seat. "Not you kid, you're driving." The Vanguard dismounted from his stool and swept up his drink.

"Boss." Shiro pleaded. Cayde ignored him and walked around the end of the bar and through a bead curtain. The backroom was dimly lit, except for a makeshift table in the corner where a hanger mechanic and New Monarchy goon were trying to cheat some civvies at cards. Cayde ignored them and walked up to an old jukebox on the opposite side of the room. He took a sip of his drink and punched some buttons without even looking down. As the music played, he heard one of the card players' chairs scrape back harshly. Cayde turned around and faced them. Hideo's enforcer was standing, but quickly retreated into his seat after recognizing him.

"This one's on me boys." Said Cayde. Shiro stepped through the curtain and Cayde led him to a door in the back of the room. They walked into what had been a closet, but thanks to a couple of crates and a wooden pallet, was now the go to spot for more private card games.

"Do we really have to do this?" Shiro shut the door behind them and paused. "You only just got back, I'm sure people are starting to suspect."

"Who?" Said Cayde.

"Well, Ikora."

"Ikora suspects everyone," Cayde pulled a deck of cards from his pocket and put them on the table. "It's kinda her thing."

"Zavala."

"Zavala is way too disappointed in me to pay attention," Cayde summoned his ghost and Shiro followed suit, "unless I'm blowing stuff up. Besides, I'm not gonna be around for ever and what better way to get your feet wet, huh?"

Cayde picked up the cards and started to deal them onto the table. "You two," he said to the ghosts, "I want you to look very carefully at these cards." He laid nine cards in a grid and as he deliberately placed the final one both ghosts suddenly lost power and dropped from the air into their guardian's hands. Almost in unison, the Hunters each pulled a tiny chip card from their boot tops and inserted them delicately into a compartment in the rear of their ghost.

"57 seconds," said Shiro.

"I'm sorry," said Cayde, "but one of us has to go into the Hellmouth, and even I'm not that much of an asshole."

"What is it about this girl?"

"Look, I'll even let you shoot me in the face this time, eh?" Cayde drew his pistol and cocked it.

"20 seconds." Shiro drew his sidearm and pointed it at Cayde's face. "One day your hack isn't going to work and then we'll be-"

"5," Cayde started to countdown, pressing his barrel into Shiro's temple. "4, 3, 2, thanks buddy." Then they both pulled their triggers.


End file.
